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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/11179-0.txt b/11179-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8a852cf --- /dev/null +++ b/11179-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5371 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11179 *** + +SEEING EUROPE WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS + +EDITED BY FRANCIS W. HALSEY + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI + +Germany, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland + +Part Two + + +VI. HUNGARY--(_Continued_) + +HUNGARIAN BATHS AND RESORTS--By H. Tornai de Kövër + +THE GIPSIES--By H. Tornai de Kövër + + +VII. AUSTRIA'S ADRIATIC PORTS + +TRIESTE AND POLA--By Edward A. Freeman + +SPALATO--By Edward A. Freeman + +RAGUSA--By Harry De Windt + +CATTARO--By Edward A. Freeman + + +VIII. OTHER AUSTRIAN SCENES + +CRACOW--By Mènie Muriel Dowie + +ON THE ROAD TO PRAGUE--By Bayard Taylor + +THE CAVE OF ADELSBERG--By George Stillman Hillard + +THE MONASTERY OF MÖLK--By Thomas Frognall Dibdin + +THROUGH THE TYROL--By William Cullen Bryant + +IN THE DOLOMITES--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +CORTINA--By Amelia B. Edwards + + +IX. ALPINE RESORTS + +THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS--By Frederick Harrison + +INTERLAKEN AND THE JUNGFRAU--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +THE ALTDORF OF WILLIAM TELL--By W.D. M'Crackan + +LUCERNE--By Victor Tissot + +ZURICH--By W.D. M'Crackan + +THE RIGI--By W.D. M'Crackan + +CHAMOUNI--AN AVALANCHE--By Percy Bysshe Shelley + +ZERMATT--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +PONTRESINA AND ST. MORITZ--By Victor Tissot + +GENEVA--By Francis H. Gribble + +THE CASTLE OF CHILLON--By Harriet Beecher Stowe + +BY RAIL UP THE GORNER-GRAT--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +THROUGH THE ST. GOTHARD INTO ITALY--By Victor Tissot + + +X. ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING + +FIRST ATTEMPTS HALF A CENTURY AGO--By Edward Whymper + +FIRST TO THE TOP O THE MATTERHORN--By Edward Whymper + +THE LORD FRANCIS DOUGLAS TRAGEDY--By Edward Whymper + +AN ASCENT OF MONTE ROSA (1858)--By John Tyndall + +MONT BLANC ASCENDED, HUXLEY GOING PART WAY--By John Tyndall + +THE JUNGFRAU-JOCH--By Sir Leslie Stephen + + +XI. OTHER ALPINE TOPICS + +THE GREAT ST. BERNARD HOSPICE--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +AVALANCHES--By Victor Tissot + +HUNTING THE CHAMOIS--By Victor Tissot + +THE CELEBRITIES OF GENEVA--By Francis H. Gribble + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME VI + + Frontispiece + THE MATTERHORN + + KURSAAL AT MARIENBAD + + MARIENBAD, AUSTRIA + + MONASTERY OF ST. ULRIC AND AFRA, AUGSBURG + + MONASTERY OF MÖLK ON THE DANUBE ABOVE VIENNA + + MEMORIAL TABLET AND ROAD IN THE IRON GATE OF THE DANUBE + + QUAY AT FIUME + + ROYAL PALACE IN BUDAPEST + + HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BUDAPEST + + SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE AT BUDAPEST + + STREET IN BUDAPEST + + CATHEDRAL OF SPALATO + + REGUSA, DALMATIA + + MIRAMAR + + GENEVA + + REGATTA DAY ON LAKE GENEVA + + VITZNAU, THE LAKE TERMINUS OF THE RIGI RAILROAD + + RHINE FALLS NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN + + PONTRESINA IN THE ENGADINE + + ST. MORITZ IN THE ENGADINE + + FRIBOURG + + BERNE + + VIVEY, LAKE GENEVA + + THE TURNHALLE, ZURICH + + INTERLAKEN + + LUCERNE + + VIADUCTS ON AN ALPINE RAILWAY + + THE WOLFORT VIADUCT + + BALMAT--SAUSSURE MONUMENT IN CHAMONIX + + ROOFED WOODEN BRIDGE AT LUCERNE + + THE CASTLE OF CHILLON + + CLOUD EFFECT ABOVE INTERLAKEN + + DAVOS IN WINTER + + + [Illustration: THE KURSAL AT MARIENBAD] + + [Illustration: MARIENBAD, AUSTRIA] + + [Illustration: THE MONASTERY OF ST. ULRIC AND AFRA, AT AUGSBURG + IN BAVARIA] + + [Illustration: THE MONASTERY OF MÖLK ON THE DANUBE ABOVE VIENNA] + + [Illustration: MEMORIAL TABLET AND ROAD IN THE IRON GATE + OF THE DANUBE] + + [Illustration: THE QUAY OF THE FIUME AT THE HEAD OF THE ADRIATIC] + + [Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: STREET IN BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF SPALATO + Burial-place of the Emperor Diocletian] + + [Illustration: REGUSA, DALMATIA] + + [Illustration: MIRAMAR + Long the home of the ex-Empress Carlotta of Mexico] + + [Illustration: GENEVA] + + [Illustration: REGATTA DAY ON LAKE GENEVA] + + [Illustration: VITZNAU, THE LAKE TERMINUS OF THE RIGI RAILROAD] + + [Illustration: THE RHINE FALLS NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN] + + + +VI + + + +HUNGARY + +(_Continued_) + +HUNGARIAN BATHS AND RESORTS[1] + +BY H. TORNAI DE KÖVËR + +In Hungary there are great quantities of unearthed riches, and not only +in the form of gold. These riches are the mineral waters that abound in +the country and have been the natural medicine of the people for many +years. Water in itself was always worshiped by the Hungarians in the +earliest ages, and they have found out through experience for which +ailment the different waters may be used. There are numbers of small +watering-places in the most primitive state, which are visited by the +peasants from far and wide, more especially those that are good for +rheumatism. + +Like all people that work much in the open, the Hungarian in old age +feels the aching of his limbs. The Carpathians are full of such baths, +some of them quite primitive; others are used more as summer resorts, +where the well-to-do town people build their villas; others, again, +like Tátra Füred, Tátra Lomnicz, Csorba, and many others, have every +accommodation and are visited by people from all over Europe. In former +times Germans and Poles were the chief visitors, but now people come +from all parts to look at the wonderful ice-caves (where one can skate +in the hottest summer), the waterfalls, and the great pine forests, and +make walking, driving, and riding tours right up to the snow-capped +mountains, preferring the comparative quiet of this Alpine district to +that of Switzerland. Almost every place has some special mineral water, +and among the greatest wonders of Hungary are the hot mud-baths of +Pöstyén. + +This place is situated at the foot of the lesser Carpathians, and is +easily reached from the main line of the railway. The scenery is lovely +and the air healthy, but this is nothing compared to the wondrous waters +and hot mire which oozes out of the earth in the vicinity of the river +Vág. Hot sulfuric water, which contains radium, bubbles up in all parts +of Pöstyén, and even the bed of the cold river is full of steaming +hot mud. As far back as 1551 we know of the existence of Pöstyén as a +natural cure, and Sir Spencer Wells, the great English doctor, wrote +about these waters in 1888. They are chiefly good for rheumatism, gout, +neuralgia, the strengthening of broken bones, strains, and also for +scrofula. + +On the premises there is a quaint museum with crutches and all sort of +sticks and invalid chairs left there by their former owners in grateful +acknowledgment of the wonderful waters and mire that had healed them. Of +late there has been much comfort added; great new baths have been built, +villas and new hotels added, so that there is accommodation for rich +and poor alike. The natural heat of the mire is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. +Plenty of amusements are supplied for those who are not great +sufferers--tennis, shooting, fishing, boating, and swimming being all +obtainable. The bathing-place and all the adjoining land belongs to +Count Erdödy. + +Another place of the greatest importance is the little bath "Parád," +hardly three hours from Budapest, situated in the heart of the mountains +of the "Mátra." It is the private property of Count Kárólyi. The place +is primitive and has not even electric light. Its waters are a wonderful +combination of iron and alkaline, but this is not the most important +feature. Besides the baths there is a strong spring of arsenic water +which, through a fortunate combination, is stronger and more digestible +than Roncegno and all the other first-rate waters of that kind in the +world. + +Not only in northern Hungary does one find wondrous cures, it is the +same in Transylvania. There are healing and splendid mineral waters for +common use all over the country lying idle and awaiting the days when +its owners will be possest by the spirit of enterprise. Borszek, +Szováta, and many others are all wonders in their way, waters that would +bring in millions to their owners if only worked properly. Szováta, +boasts of a lake containing such an enormous proportion of salt that not +even the human body can sink into its depths. + +In the south there is Herkulesfürdö, renowned as much for the beauty of +its scenery as for its waters. Besides those mentioned there are all +the summer pleasure resorts; the best of these are situated along Lake +Balaton. The tepid water, long sandbanks, and splendid air from the +forests make them specially healthy for delicate children. But not only +have the bathing-places beautiful scenery from north to south and from +east to west, in general the country abounds in Alpine districts, +waterfalls, caves, and other wonders of nature. The most beautiful +tour is along the river Vág, starting from the most northerly point in +Hungary near the beautiful old stronghold of Árva in the county of Árva. + +All those that care to see a country as it really is, and do not mind +going out of the usual beaten track of the globe-trotter, should go down +the river Vág. It can not be done by steamer, or any other comfortable +contrivance, one must do it on a raft, as the rapids of the river are +not to be passed by any other means. The wood is transported in this +way from the mountain regions to the south, and for two days one passes +through the most beautiful scenery. Fantastic castles loom at the top of +mountain peaks, and to each castle is attached a page of the history of +the Middle Ages, when the great noblemen were also the greatest robbers +of the land, and the people were miserable serfs, who did all the work +and were taxed and robbed by their masters. Castles, wild mountain +districts, rugged passes, villages, and ruins are passed like a +beautiful panorama. The river rushes along, foaming and dashing over +sharp rocks. The people are reliable and very clever in handling the +raft, which requires great skill, especially when conducted over the +falls at low water. Sometimes there is only one little spot where the +raft can pass, and to conduct it over those rapids requires absolute +knowledge of every rock hidden under the shallow falls. If notice is +given in time, a rude hut will be built on the raft to give shelter +and make it possible to have meals cooked, altho in the simplest way +(consisting of baked potatoes and stew), by the Slavs who are in charge +of the raft. If anything better is wanted it must be ordered by stopping +at the larger towns; but to have it done in the simple way is entering +into the true spirit of the voyage. + + +THE GIPSIES[2] + +BY H. TORNAI DE KÖVËR + +Gipsies! Music! Dancing! These are words of magic to the rich and poor, +noblemen and peasant alike, if he be a true Hungarian. There are two +kinds of gipsies. The wandering thief, who can not be made to take up +any occupation. These are a terribly lawless and immoral people, and +there seems to be no way of altering their life and habits, altho much +has been written on the subject to improve matters; but the Government +has shown itself to be helpless as yet. These people live here and +there, in fact everywhere, leading a wandering life in carts, and camp +wherever night overtakes them. After some special evil-doing they will +wander into Rumania or Russia and come back after some years when the +deed of crime has been forgotten. Their movements are so quick and +silent that they outwit the best detectives of the police force. They +speak the gipsy language, but often a half-dozen other languages +besides, in their peculiar chanting voice. Their only occupation is +stealing, drinking, smoking, and being a nuisance to the country in +every way. + +The other sort of gipsies consist of those that have squatted down in +the villages some hundreds of years ago. They live in a separate part of +the village, usually at the end, are dirty and untidy and even an unruly +people, but for the most part have taken up some honest occupation. +They make the rough, unbaked earth bricks that the peasant cottages are +mostly made of, are tinkers and blacksmiths, but they do the lowest kind +of work too. Besides these, however, there are the talented ones. The +musical gipsy begins to handle his fiddle as soon as he can toddle. +The Hungarians brought their love of music with them from Asia. Old +parchments have been found which denote that they had their songs and +war-chants at the time of the "home-making," and church and folk-songs +from their earliest Christian period. Peasant and nobleman are musical +alike--it runs in the race. The gipsies that have settled among them +caught up the love of music and are now the best interpreters of the +Hungarian songs. The people have got so used to their "blackies," as +they call them, that no lesser or greater fête day can pass without +the gipsy band having ample work to do in the form of playing for the +people. Their instruments are the fiddle, 'cello, viola, clarinet, +tárogato (a Hungarian specialty), and, above all, the cymbal. The +tárogato looks like a grand piano with the top off. It stands on four +legs like a table and has wires drawn across it; on these wires the +player performs with two little sticks, that are padded at the ends +with cotton-wool. The sound is wild and weird, but if well played very +beautiful indeed. The gipsies seldom compose music. The songs come into +life mostly on the spur of the moment. In the olden days war-songs and +long ballads were the most usual form of music. The seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries were specially rich in the production of songs that +live even now. At that time the greatest gipsy musician was a woman: her +name was "Czinka Panna," and she was called the Gipsy Queen. With the +change of times the songs are altered too, and now they are mostly +lyric. Csárdás is the quick form of music, and tho' of different +melodies it must always be kept to the same rhythm. This is not much +sung to, but is the music for the national dance. The peasants play on +a little wooden flute which is called the "Tilinko," or "Furulya," and +they know hundreds of sad folk-songs and lively Csárdás. While living +their isolated lives in the great plains they compose many a beautiful +song. + +It is generally from the peasants and the musical country gentry that +the gipsy gets his music. He learns the songs after a single hearing, +and plays them exactly according to the singer's wish. The Hungarian +noble when singing with the gipsies is capable of giving the dark-faced +boys every penny he has. In this manner many a young nobleman has been +ruined, and the gipsies make nothing of it, because they are just like +their masters and "spend easily earned money easily," as the saying +goes. Where there is much music there is much dancing. Every Sunday +afternoon after church the villages are lively with the sound of the +gipsy band, and the young peasant boys and girls dance. + +The Slovaks of the north play a kind of bagpipe, which reminds one of +the Scotch ones; but the songs of the Slovak have got very much mixed +with the Hungarian. The Rumanian music is of a distinct type, but the +dances all resemble the Csárdás, with the difference that the quick +figures in the Slav and Rumanian dances are much more grotesque and +verging on acrobatism. + + + +VII + +AUSTRIA'S ADRIATIC PORTS + +TRIESTE AND POLA[3] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +Trieste stands forth as a rival of Venice, which has, in a low practical +view of things, outstript her. Italian zeal naturally cries for the +recovery of a great city, once part of the old Italian kingdom, and +whose speech is largely, perhaps chiefly, Italian to this day. But, a +cry of "Italia Irredenta," however far it may go, must not go so far +as this. Trieste, a cosmopolitan city on a Slavonic shore, can not be +called Italian in the same sense as the lands and towns so near Verona +which yearn to be as Verona is. Let Trieste be the rival, even the +eyesore, of Venice, still Southern Germany must have a mouth. + +We might, indeed, be better pleased to see Trieste a free city, the +southern fellow of Lübeck, Bremen and Hamburg; but it must not be +forgotten that the Archduke of Austria and Lord of Trieste reigns at +Trieste by a far better right than that by which he reigns at Cattaro +and Spizza. The present people of Trieste did not choose him, but the +people of Trieste five hundred years back did choose the forefather of +his great-grandmother. Compared with the grounds of which kingdoms, +duchies, counties, and lordships, are commonly held in that +neighborhood, such a claim as this must be allowed to be respectable +indeed. + +The great haven of Trieste may almost at pleasure be quoted as either +confirming or contradicting the rule that it is not in the great +commercial cities of Europe that we are to look for the choicest or the +most plentiful remains of antiquity. Sometimes the cities themselves +are of modern foundation; in other cases the cities themselves, as +habitations of men and seats of commerce, are of the hoariest antiquity, +but the remains of their early days have perished through their very +prosperity. Massalia,[4] with her long history, with her double wreath +of freedom, the city which withstood Cæsar and which withstood Charles +of Anjou, is bare of monuments of her early days. She has been the +victim of her abiding good fortune. We can look down from the height on +the Phôkaian harbor; but for actual memorials of the men who fled from +the Persian, of the men who defied the Roman and the Angevin, we might +look as well at Liverpool or at Havre. + +Genoa, Venice herself, are hardly real exceptions; they were indeed +commercial cities, but they were ruling cities also, and, as ruling +cities, they reared monuments which could hardly pass away. What are we +to say to the modern rival of Venice, the upstart rebel, one is tempted +to say, against the supremacy of the Hadriatic Queen? Trieste, at the +head of her gulf, with the hills looking down to her haven, with the +snowy mountains which seem to guard the approach from the other side of +her inland sea, with her harbor full of the ships of every nation, her +streets echoing with every tongue, is she to be reckoned as an example +of the rule or an exception to it? + +No city at first sight seems more thoroughly modern; old town and +new, wide streets and narrow, we search them in vain for any of those +vestiges of past times which in some cities meet us at every step. +Compare Trieste with Ancona;[5] we miss the arch of Trajan on the haven; +we miss the cupola of Saint Cyriacus soaring in triumph above the +triumphal monument of the heathen. We pass through the stately streets +of the newer town, we thread the steep ascents which lead us to the +older town above, and we nowhere light on any of those little scraps of +ornamental architecture, a window, a doorway, a column, which meet us at +every step in so many of the cities of Italy. + +Yet the monumental wealth of Trieste is all but equal to the monumental +wealth of Ancona. At Ancona we have the cathedral church and the +triumphal arch; so we have at Trieste; tho' at Trieste we have nothing +to set against the grand front of the lower and smaller church of +Ancona. But at Ancona arch and duomo both stand out before all eyes; +at Trieste both have to be looked for. The church of Saint Justus at +Trieste crowns the hill as well as the church of Saint Cyriacus at +Ancona; but it does not in the same way proclaim its presence. The +castle, with its ugly modern fortifications, rises again above the +church; and the duomo of Trieste, with its shapeless outline and its +low, heavy, unsightly campanile, does not catch the eyes like the Greek +cross and cupola of Ancona. + +Again at Trieste the arch could never, in its best days, have been a +rival to the arch at Ancona; and now either we have to hunt it out by an +effort, or else it comes upon us suddenly, standing, as it does, at the +head of a mean street on the ascent to the upper town. Of a truth it can +not compete with Ancona or with Rimini, with Orange[6] or with Aosta. +But the duomo, utterly unsightly as it is in a general view, puts on +quite a new character when we first see the remains of pagan times +imprisoned in the lower stage of the heavy campanile, still more so when +we take our first glance of its wonderful interior. At the first glimpse +we see that here there is a mystery to be unraveled; and as we gradually +find the clue to the marvelous changes which it has undergone, we +feel that outside show is not everything, and that, in point both +of antiquity and of interest, tho' not of actual beauty, the double +basilica of Trieste may claim no mean place among buildings of its own +type. Even after the glories of Rome and Ravenna, the Tergestine church +may be studied with no small pleasure and profit, as an example of a +kind of transformation of which neither Rome nor Ravenna can supply +another example.... + +The other ancient relic at Trieste is the small triumphal arch. On one +side it keeps its Corinthian pilasters; on the other they are imbedded +in a house. The arch is in a certain sense double; but the two are close +together, and touch in the keystone. The Roman date of this arch can not +be doubted; but legends connect it both with Charles the Great and with +Richard of Poitou and of England, a prince about whom Tergestine fancy +has been very busy. The popular name of the arch is Arco Riccardo. + +Such, beside some fragments in the museum, are all the remains that the +antiquary will find in Trieste; not much in point of number, but, in the +case of the duomo at least, of surpassing interest in their own way. But +the true merit of Trieste is not in anything that it has itself, its +church, its arch, its noble site. Placed there at the head of the gulf, +on the borders of two great portions of the Empire, it leads to the land +which produced that line of famous Illyrian Emperors who for a while +checked the advance of our own race in the world's history, and it leads +specially to the chosen home of the greatest among them.[7] The chief +glory of Trieste, after all, is that it is the way to Spalato.... + +At Pola the monuments of Pietas Julia claim the first place; the +basilica, tho' not without a certain special interest, comes long after +them. The character of the place is fixt by the first sight of it; we +see the present and we see the more distant past; the Austrian navy is +to be seen, and the amphitheater is to be seen. But intermediate times +have little to show; if the duomo strikes the eye at all, it strikes it +only by the extreme ugliness of its outside, nor is there anything very +taking, nothing like the picturesque castle of Pirano, in the works +which occupy the site of the colonial capitol. The duomo should not be +forgotten; even the church of Saint Francis is worth a glance; but it is +in the remains of the Roman colony, in the amphitheater, the arches, +the temples, the fragments preserved in that temple which serves, as +at Nîmes,[8] for a museum, that the real antiquarian wealth of Pola +lies.... + +The known history of Pola begins with the Roman conquest of Istria +in 178 B.C. The town became a Roman colony and a flourishing seat of +commerce. Its action on the republican side in the civil war brought +on it the vengeance of the second Cæsar. But the destroyer became +the restorer, and Pietas Julia, in the height of its greatness, far +surpassed the extent either of the elder or the younger Pola. Like all +cities of this region, Pola kept up its importance down to the days of +the Carlovingian Empire, the specially flourishing time of the whole +district being that of Gothic and Byzantine dominion at Ravenna. A +barbarian king, the Roxolan Rasparasanus, is said to have withdrawn to +Pola after the submission of his nation to Hadrian; and the panegyrists +of the Flavian house rank Pola along with Trier and Autun among the +cities which the princes of that house had adorned or strengthened. But +in the history of their dynasty the name of the city chiefly stands out +as the chosen place for the execution of princes whom it was convenient +to put out of the way. + +Here Crispus died at the bidding of Constantine, and Gallus at the +bidding of Constantius. Under Theodoric, Pola doubtless shared that +general prosperity of the Istrian land on which Cassiodorus grows +eloquent when writing to its inhabitants. In the next generation Pola +appears in somewhat of the same character which has come back to it in +our own times; it was there that Belisarius gathered the Imperial fleet +for his second and less prosperous expedition against the Gothic lords +of Italy. But, after the break up of the Frankish Empire, the history of +medieval Pola is but a history of decline. It was, in the geography of +Dante, the furthest city of Italy; but, like most of the other cities of +its own neighborhood, its day of greatness had passed away when Dante +sang. + +Tossed to and fro between the temporal and spiritual lords who claimed +to be marquesses of Istria, torn by the dissensions of aristocratic and +popular parties among its own citizens, Pola found rest, the rest of +bondage, in submission to the dominion of Saint Mark in 1331.[9] Since +then, till its new birth in our own times, Pola has been a failing city. +Like the other Istrian and Dalmatian towns, modern revolutions have +handed it over from Venice to Austria, from Austria to France, from +France to Austria again. It is under its newest masters that Pola has +at last begun to live a fresh life, and the haven whence Belisarius[10] +sailed forth has again become a haven in more than name, the cradle of +the rising navy of the united Austrian and Hungarian realm. + +That haven is indeed a noble one. Few sights are more striking than to +see the huge mass of the amphitheater at Pola seeming to rise at once +out of the land-locked sea. As Pola is seen now, the amphitheater is the +one monument of its older days, which strikes the eye in the general +view, and which divides attention with signs that show how heartily the +once forsaken city has entered on its new career. But in the old time +Pola could show all the buildings which befitted its rank as a colony +of Rome. The amphitheater, of course, stood without the walls; the city +itself stood at the foot and on the slope of the hill which was crowned +by the capitol of the colony, where the modern fortress rises above the +Franciscan church. Parts of the Roman wall still stand; one of its gates +is left; another has left a neighbor and a memory.... + +Travelers are sometimes apt to complain, and that not wholly without +reason, that all amphitheaters are very like one another. At Pola this +remark is less true than elsewhere, as the amphitheater there has +several marked peculiarities of its own. We do not pretend to expound +all its details scientifically; but this we may say, that those who +dispute--if the dispute still goes on--about various points as regards +the Coliseum at Rome will do well to go and look for some further light +in the amphitheater of Pola. The outer range, which is wonderfully +perfect, while the inner arrangements are fearfully ruined, consists, on +the side toward the town, of two rows of arches, with a third story with +square-headed openings above them. + +But the main peculiarity in the outside is to be found in four +tower-like projections, not, as at Arles and Nîmes, signs of Saracenic +occupation, but clearly parts of the original design. Many conjectures +have been made about them; they look as if they were means of approach +to the upper part of the building; but it is wisest not to be positive. +But the main peculiarity of this amphitheater is that it lies on the +slope of a hill, which thus supplied a natural basement for the seats on +one side only. But this same position swallowed up the lower arcade on +this side, and it hindered the usual works underneath the seats from +being carried into this part of the building. + + +SPALATO[11] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +The main object and center of all historical and architectural inquiries +on the Dalmatian coast is, of course, the home of Diocletian, the still +abiding palace of Spalato. From a local point of view, it is the spot +which the greatest of the long line of renowned Illyrian Emperors chose +as his resting-place from the toils of warfare and government, and +where he reared the vastest and noblest dwelling that ever arose at the +bidding of a single man. From an ecumenical point of view, Spalato is +yet more. If it does not rank with Rome, Old and New, with Ravenna and +with Trier, it is because it never was, like them, an actual seat of +empire. But it not the less marks a stage, and one of the greatest +stages, in the history of the Empire. + +On his own Dalmatian soil, Docles of Salone, Diocletian of Rome, was the +man who had won fame for his own land, and who, on the throne of the +world, did not forget his provincial birthplace. In the sight of Rome +and of the world Jovius Augustus was more than this. Alike in the +history of politics and in the history of art, he has left his mark on +all time that has come after him, and it is on his own Spalato that +his mark has been most deeply stamped. The polity of Rome and the +architecture of Rome alike received a new life at his hands. In each +alike he cast away shams and pretenses, and made the true construction +of the fabric stand out before men's eyes. Master of the Rome world, if +not King, yet more than King, he let the true nature of his power be +seen, and, first among the Cæsars, arrayed himself with the outward pomp +of sovereignty. + +In a smaller man we might have deemed the change a mark of weakness, a +sign of childish delight in gewgaws, titles, and trappings. Such could +hardly have been the motive in the man who, when he deemed that his work +was done, could cast away both the form and the substance of power, and +could so steadily withstand all temptations to take them up again. It +was simply that the change was fully wrought; that the chief magistrate +of the commonwealth had gradually changed into the sovereign of the +Empire; that Imperator, Cæsar, and Augustus, once titles lowlier than +that of King, had now become, as they have ever since remained, titles +far loftier. The change was wrought, and all that Diocletian did was to +announce the fact of the change to the world. + +Nor did the organizing hand of Jovius confine its sphere to the polity +of the Empire only. He built himself a house, and, above all builders, +he might boast himself of the house that he had builded. Fast by his +own birthplace--a meaner soul might have chosen some distant +spot--Diocletian reared the palace which marks a still greater epoch in +Roman art than his political changes mark in Roman polity. On the inmost +shore of one of the lake-like inlets of the Hadriatic, an inlet guarded +almost from sight by the great island of Bua at its mouth, lay his own +Salona, now desolate, then one of the great cities of the Roman world. +But it was not in the city, it was not close under its walls, that +Diocletian fixt his home. An isthmus between the bay of Salona and the +outer sea cuts off a peninsula, which again throws out two horns into +the water to form the harbor which has for ages supplanted Salona. + +There, not on any hill-top, but on a level spot by the coast, with the +sea in front, with a background of more distant mountains, and with +one peaked hill rising between the two seas like a watch-tower, did +Diocletian build the house to which he withdrew when he deemed that his +work of empire was over. And in building that house, he won for himself, +or for the nameless genius whom he set at work, a place in the history +of art worthy to rank alongside of Iktinos of Athens and Anthemios of +Byzantium, of William of Durham and of Hugh of Lincoln. + +And now the birthplace of Jovius is forsaken, but his house still +abides, and abides in a shape marvelously little shorn of its ancient +greatness. The name which it still bears comes straight from the name of +the elder home of the Cæsars. The fates of the two spots have been in a +strange way the converse of one another. By the banks of the Tiber the +city of Romulus became the house of a single man: by the shores of the +Hadriatic the house of a single man became a city. The Palatine hill +became the Palatium of the Cæsars, and Palatium was the name which was +borne by the house of Cæsar by the Dalmatian shore. The house became a +city; but its name still clave to it, and the house of Jovius still, +at least in the mouths of its own inhabitants, keeps its name in the +slightly altered form of Spalato.... + +We land with the moon lighting up the water, with the stars above us, +the northern wain shining on the Hadriatic, as if, while Diocletian was +seeking rest by Salona, the star of Constantine was rising over York +and Trier. Dimly rising above us we see, disfigured indeed, but not +destroyed, the pillared front of the palace, reminding us of the +Tabularium of Rome's own capitol. We pass under gloomy arches, through +dark passages and presently we find ourselves in the center of palace +and city, between those two renowned rows of arches which mark the +greatest of all epochs in the history of the building art. We think how +the man who reorganized the Empire of Rome was also the man who first +put harmony and consistency into the architecture of Rome. We think +that, if it was in truth the crown of Diocletian which passed to every +Cæsar from the first Constantius to the last Francis, it was no less in +the pile which rose into being at his word that the germ was planted +which grew into Pisa and Durham, into Westminster and Saint Ouen. + +There is light enough to mark the columns put for the first time to +their true Roman use, and to think how strange was the fate which called +up on this spot the happy arrangement which had entered the brain of no +earlier artist--the arrangement which, but a few years later, was to be +applied to another use in the basilica of the Lateran and in Saint Paul +Without the Walls. Yes, it is in the court of the persecutor, the man +who boasted that he had wiped out the Christian superstition from the +world, that we see the noblest forestalling of the long arcades of the +Christian basilica. + +It is with thoughts like these, thoughts pressing all the more upon us +where every outline is clear and every detail is visible, that we tread +for the first time the Court of Jovius--the columns with their arches on +either side of us, the vast bell-tower rising to the sky, as if to mock +the art of those whose mightiest works might still seem only to grovel +upon earth. Nowhere within the compass of the Roman world do we find +ourselves more distinctly in the presence of one of the great minds +of the world's history; we see that, alike in politics and in art, +Diocletian breathed a living soul into a lifeless body. In the bitter +irony of the triumphant faith, his mausoleum has become a church, his +temple has become a baptistery, the great bell-tower rises proudly over +his own work; his immediate dwelling-place is broken down and crowded +with paltry houses; but the sea-front and the Golden Gate are still +there amid all disfigurements, and the great peristyle stands almost +unhurt, to remind us of the greatest advance that a single mind ever +made in the progress of the building art. + +At the present time the city into which the house of Diocletian has +grown is the largest and most growing town of the Dalmatian coast. It +has had to yield both spiritual and temporal precedence to Zara, but, +both in actual population and all that forms the life of a city, Spalato +greatly surpasses Zara and all its other neighbors. The youngest +Dalmatian towns, which could boast neither of any mythical origin nor of +any Imperial foundation, the city which, as it were, became a city by +mere chance, has outstript the colonies of Epidauros, of Corinth, and of +Rome. + +The palace of Diocletian had but one occupant; after the founder no +Emperor had dwelled in it, unless we hold that this was the villa near +Salona where the deposed Emperor Nepos was slain, during the patriciate +of Odoacer. The forsaken palace seems, while still almost new, to have +become a cloth factory, where women worked, and which therefore appears +in the "Notitia" as a Gynæcium. But when Salona was overthrown, the +palace stood ready to afford shelter to those who were driven from their +homes. The palace, in the widest sense of the word--for of course its +vast circuit took in quarters for soldiers and officials of various +kinds, as well as the rooms actually occupied by the Emperor--stood +ready to become a city. + +It was a chester ready made, with its four streets, its four gates, all +but that toward the sea flanked with octagonal towers, and with four +greater square towers at the corners. To this day the circuit of the +walls is nearly perfect; and the space contained within them must be as +large as that contained within some of the oldest chesters in our own +island. The walls, the towers, the gates, are those of a city rather +than of a house. Two of the gates, tho' their towers are gone, are +nearly perfect; the "porta aurea," with its graceful ornaments; the +"porta ferrea" in its stern plainness, strangely crowned with its small +campanile of later days perched on its top. Within the walls, besides +the splendid buildings which still remain, besides the broken-down walls +and chambers which formed the immediate dwelling-place of the founder, +the main streets were lined with massive arcades, large parts of which +still remain. + +Diocletian, in short, in building a house, had built a city. In the days +of Constantine Porphyrogenitus it was a "Káotpov"--Greek and English had +by his day alike borrowed the Latin name; but it was a "Káotpov" which +Diocletian had built as his own house, and within which was his hall +and palace. In his day the city bore the name of Aspalathon, which he +explains to mean "little palace." When the palace had thus become a +common habitation of men, it is not wonderful that all the more private +buildings whose use had passed away were broken down, disfigured, and +put to mean uses. + +The work of building over the site must have gone on from that day to +this. The view in Wheeler shows several parts of the enclosure occupied +by ruins which are now covered with houses. The real wonder is that so +much has been spared and has survived to our own days. And we are rather +surprised to find Constantine saying that in his time the greater part +had been destroyed. For the parts which must always have been the +stateliest remain still. The great open court, the peristyle, with its +arcades, have become the public plaza of the town; the mausoleum on +one side of it and the temple on the other were preserved and put to +Christian uses. + +We say the mausoleum, for we fully accept the suggestion made by +Professor Glavinich, the curator of the museum of Spalato, that the +present duomo, traditionally called the Temple of Jupiter, was not a +temple, but a mausoleum. These must have been the great public buildings +of the palace, and, with the addition of the bell-tower, they remain the +chief public buildings of the modern city. But, tho' the ancient square +of the palace remains wonderfully perfect, the modern city, with its +Venetian defenses, its Venetian and later buildings, has spread itself +far beyond the walls of Diocletian. But those walls have made the +history of Spalato, and it is the great buildings which stand within +them that give Spalato its special place in the history of architecture. + + +RAGUSA[12] + +BY HARRY DE WINDT + +Viewed from the sea, and at first sight, the place somewhat resembles +Monte Carlo with its white villas, palms, and background of rugged, +gray hills. But this is the modern portion of the town, outside the +fortifications, erected many centuries ago. Within them lies the +real Ragusa--a wonderful old city which teems with interest, for its +time-worn buildings and picturesque streets recall, at every turn, the +faded glories of this "South Slavonic Athens." A bridge across the moat +which protects the old city is the link between the present and past. +In new Ragusa you may sit on the crowded esplanade of a fashionable +watering place; but pass through a frowning archway into the old +town, and, save in the main street, which has modern shops and other +up-to-date surroundings, you might be living in the dark ages. For as +far back as in the ninth century Ragusa was the capital of Dalmatia +and an independent republic, and since that period her literary and +commercial triumphs, and the tragedies she has survived in the shape +of sieges, earthquakes, and pestilence, render the records of this +little-known state almost as engrossing as those of ancient Rome. + +Until I came here I had pictured a squalid Eastern place, devoid of +ancient or modern interest; most of my fellow-countrymen probably do +likewise, notwithstanding the fact that when London was +a small and obscure town Ragusa was already an important center of +commerce and civilization. The republic was always a peaceful one, and +its people excelled in trade and the fine arts. Thus, as early as the +fourteenth century the Ragusan fleet was the envy of the world; its +vessels were then known as Argusas to British mariners, and the English +word "Argosy" is probably derived from the name. These tiny ships went +far afield--to the Levant and Northern Europe, and even to the Indies--a +voyage frought, in those days, with much peril. At this epoch Ragusa had +achieved a mercantile prosperity unequalled throughout Europe, but in +later years the greater part of the fleet joined and perished with the +Spanish Armada. + +And this catastrophe was the precursor of a series of national +disasters. In 1667 the city was laid waste by an earthquake which +killed over twenty thousand people, and this was followed by a terrible +visitation of the plague, which further decimated the population. +Ragusa, however, was never a large city, and even at its zenith, in +the sixteenth century, it numbered under forty thousand souls, and now +contains only about a third of that number. + +In 1814 the Vienna Congress finally deprived the republic of its +independence, and it became (with Dalmatia) an Austrian possession. +Trade has not increased here of recent years, as in Herzegovina and +Bosnia. The harbor, at one time one of the most important ports in +Europe, is too small and shallow for modern shipping, and the oil +industry, once the backbone of the place, has sadly dwindled of late +years. + +Ragusa itself now having no harbor worthy of the name, the traveler by +sea must land at Gravosa about a mile north of the old city. Gravosa is +merely a suburb of warehouses, shipping, and sailor-men, as unattractive +as the London Docks, and the Hotel Petko swarmed with mosquitoes and +an animal which seems to thrive and flourish throughout the Balkan +States--the rat. + +The old Custom House is perhaps the most beautiful building in Ragusa, +and is one of the few which survived the terrible earthquake of 1667. +The structure bears the letters "I.H.S." over the principal entrance in +commemoration of this fact. Its courtyard is a dream of beauty, and the +stone galleries around it are surrounded with inscriptions of great age. + +Ragusa is a Slav town, but altho' the name of streets appear in Slavonic +characters, Italian is also spoken on every side and the "Stradone," +with its arcades and narrow precipitous alleys at right angles, is not +unlike a street in Naples. The houses are built in small blocks, as +a protection against earthquakes--the terror of every Ragusan (only +mention the word and he will cross himself)--and here on a fine Sunday +morning you may see Dalmatians, Albanians, and Herzegovinians in their +gaudiest finery, while here and there a wild-eyed Montenegrin, armed to +the teeth, surveys the gay scene with a scowl, of shyness rather than +ill-humor. + +Outside the café, on the Square (where flocks of pigeons whirl around as +at St. Mark's in Venice), every little table is occupied; but here the +women are gowned in the latest Vienna fashions, and Austrian uniforms +predominate. And the sun shines as warmly as in June (on this 25th day +of March), and the cathedral bells chime a merry accompaniment to a +military band; a sky of the brightest blue gladdens the eye, fragrant +flowers the senses, and the traveler sips his bock or mazagran, and +thanks his stars he is not spending the winter in cold, foggy England. +Refreshments are served by a white-aproned garçon, and street boys +are selling the "Daily Mail" and "Gil Blas," just as they are on the +far-away boulevards of Paris. + + +CATTARO[13] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +The end of a purely Dalmatian pilgrimage will be Cattaro. He who goes +further along the coast will pass into lands that have a history, past +and present, which is wholly distinct from that of the coast which he +has hitherto traced from Zara--we might say from Capo d'Istria--onward. +We have not reached the end of the old Venetian dominion--for that we +must carry our voyage to Crete and Cyprus. But we have reached the end +of the nearly continuous Venetian dominion--the end of the coast which, +save at two small points, was either Venetian or Regusan--the end of +that territory of the two maritime commonwealths which they kept down to +their fall in modern times, and in which they have been succeeded by the +modern Dalmatian kingdom.... + +The city stands at the end of an inlet of the sea fifteen or twenty +miles long, and it has mountains around it so high that it is only in +fair summer weather that the sun can be seen; in winter Cattaro never +enjoys his presence. There certainly is no place where it is harder to +believe that the smooth waters of the narrow, lake-like inlet, with +mountains on each side which it seems as if one could put out one's hand +and touch, are really part of the same sea which dashes against the +rocks of Ragusa. They end in a meadow-like coast which makes one think +of Bourget or Trasimenus rather than of Hadria. The Dalmatian voyage is +well ended by the sail along the Bocche, the loveliest piece of inland +sea which can be conceived, and whose shores are as rich in curious bits +of political history as they are in scenes of surpassing natural beauty. + +The general history of the district consists in the usual tossing to and +fro between the various powers which have at different times been strong +in the neighborhood. Cattaro was in the reign of Basil the Macedonian +besieged and taken by Saracens, who presently went on unsuccessfully to +besiege Ragusa. And, as under Byzantine rule it was taken by Saracens, +so under Venetian rule it was more than once besieged by Turks. In the +intermediate stages we get the usual alternations of independence and of +subjection to all the neighboring powers in turn, till in 1419 Cattaro +finally became Venetian. At the fall of the republic it became part of +the Austrian share of the spoil. When the spoilers quarreled, it fell +to France. When England, Russia, and Montenegro were allies, the city +joined the land of which it naturally forms the head, and Cattaro became +the Montenegrin haven and capital. When France was no longer dangerous, +and the powers of Europe came together to parcel out other men's goods, +Austria calmly asked for Cattaro back again, and easily got it. + +In the city of Cattaro the Orthodox Church is still in a minority, but +it is a minority not far short of a majority. Outside its walls, the +Orthodox outnumber the Catholics. In short, when we reach Cattaro, we +have very little temptation to fancy ourselves in Italy or in any part +of Western Christendom. We not only know, but feel, that we are on the +Byzantine side of the Hadriatic; that we have, in fact, made our way +into Eastern Europe. + +And East and West, Slav and Italian, New Rome and Old, might well +struggle for the possession of the land and of the water through which +we pass from Ragusa to our final goal at Cattaro. The strait leads us +into a gulf; another narrow strait leads us into an inner gulf; and on +an inlet again branching out of that inner gulf lies the furthest of +Dalmatian cities. The lower city, Cattaro itself, seems to lie so +quietly, so peacefully, as if in a world of its own from which nothing +beyond the shores of its own Bocche could enter, that we are tempted to +forget, not only that the spot has been the scene of so many revolutions +through so many ages, but that it is even now a border city, a city on +the marchland of contending powers, creeds, and races.... + +The city of Cattaro itself is small, standing on a narrow ledge between +the gulf and the base of the mountain. It carries the features of the +Dalmatian cities to what any one who has not seen Traü will call their +extreme point. But, tho' the streets of Cattaro are narrow, yet they are +civilized and airy-looking compared with those of Traü, and the little +paved squares, as so often along this coast, suggest the memory of the +ruling city. + +The memory of Venice is again called up by the graceful little scraps of +its characteristic architecture which catch the eye ever and anon among +the houses of Cattaro. The landing-place, the marina, the space between +the coast and the Venetian wall, where we pass for the last time under +the winged lion over the gate, has put on the air of a boulevard. But +the forms and costume of Bocchesi and Montenegrins, the men of the gulf, +with their arms in their girdles, no less than the men of the black +mountain, banish all thought that we are anywhere but where we really +are, at one of the border points of Christian and civilized Europe. If +in the sons of the mountains we see the men who have in all ages held +out against the invading Turk, we see in their brethren of the coast the +men who, but a few years back, brought Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic +Majesty to its knees ... + +At Cattaro the Orthodox Church is on its own ground, standing side by +side on equal terms with its Latin rival, pointing to lands where the +Filioque[14] is unknown and where the Bishop of the Old Rome has even +been deemed an intruder. The building itself is a small Byzantine +church, less Byzantine in fact in its outline than the small churches of +the Byzantine type at Zara, Spalato, and Traü. The single dome rises, +not from the intersection of a Greek cross, but from the middle of a +single body, and, resting as it does on pointed arches, it suggests +the thought of Périgueux and Angoulême. But this arrangement, which is +shared by a neighboring Latin church, is well known throughout the East. + +The Latin duomo, which has been minutely described by Mr. Neale,[15] is +of quite another type, and is by no means Dalmatian in its general look. +A modern west front with two western towers does not go for much; but it +reminds us that a design of the same kind was begun at Traü in better +times. The inside is quite unlike anything of later Italian work. + +The traveler whose objects are of a more general kind turns away from +this border church of Christendom as the last stage of a pilgrimage +unsurpassed either for natural beauty or for historic interest. And, as +he looks up at the mountain which rises almost close above the east end +of the duomo of Cattaro, and thinks of the land[16] and the men to which +the path over that mountain leads, he feels that, on this frontier at +least, the spirit still lives which led English warriors to the side of +Manuel Komnênos, and which steeled the heart of the last Constantine to +die in the breach for the Roman name and the faith of Christendom. + + + +VIII + +OTHER AUSTRIAN SCENES + +CRACOW[17] + +BY MÉNIE MURIEL DOWIE + +Cracow, old, tired and dispirited, speaks and thinks only of the ruinous +past. When you drive into Cracow from the station for the first time, +you are breathless, smiling, and tearful all at once; in the great +Ring-platz--a mass of old buildings--Cracow seems to hold out her arms +to you--those long sides that open from the corner where the cab drives +in. You do not have time to notice separately the row of small trees +down on one side, beneath which bright-colored women-figures control +their weekly market; you do not notice the sort of court-house in the +middle with its red roof, cream-colored galleries and shops beneath; you +do not notice the great tall church at one side of brick and stone most +perfectly time-reconciled, or the houses, or the crazed paving, or the +innocent little groups of cabs--you only see Cracow holding out her arms +to you, and you may lean down your head and weep from pure instinctive +sympathy. Suddenly a choir of trumpets breaks out into a chorale from +the big church tower; the melancholy of it I shall never forget--the +very melody seemed so old and tired, so worn and sweet and patient, like +Cracow. Those trumpet notes have mourned in that tower for hundreds of +years. It is the Hymn of Timeless Sorrow that they play, and the key +to which they are attuned in Cracow's long despair. Hush! That is her +voice, the old town's voice, high and sad--she is speaking to you. + +Dear Cracow! Never again it seems to me, shall I come so near to the +deathless hidden sentiment of Poland as in those first moments. It would +be no use to tell her to take heart, that there may be brighter days +coming, and so forth. Lemberg may feel so, Lemberg that has the feelings +of any other big new town, the strength and the determination; but +Cracow's day was in the long ago, as a gay capital, a brilliant +university town full of princes, of daring, of culture, of wit. She has +outlived her day, and can only mourn over what has been and the times +that she has seen; she may be always proud of her character, of the +brave blood that has made scarlet her streets, but she can never be +happy remodeled as an Austrian garrison town, and in the new Poland--the +Poland whose foundation stones are laid in the hearts of her people, +and that may yet be built some day--in that new Poland there will be no +place for aristocratic, high-bred Cracow. + +During my stay in the beautiful butter-colored palace that is now a +hotel, I went round the museums, galleries, and universities, most if +not all of which are free to the public. It would be unfair to give the +idea that Cracow has completely fallen to decay. This is not the case. +Austria has erected some very handsome buildings; and a town with such +fine pictures, good museums, and two universities, can not be complained +of as moribund. At the same time, I can only record faithfully my +impression, and that was that everything new, everything modern, was +hopelessly out of tone in Cracow; progress, which, tho' desirable, may +be a vulgar thing, would not suit her, and does not seem at home in her +streets. + +About the Florian's Thor, with its round towers of old, sorrel-colored +brick, and the Czartoryski Museum, there is nothing to say that the +guide-book would not say better. In the museum, a tattered Polish flag +of red silk, with the white eagle, a cheerful bird with curled tail, +opened mouth, chirping defiantly to the left, imprest me, and a portrait +of Szopen (Chopin) in fine profile when laid out dead. For amusement, +there was a Paul Potter bull beside a Paul Potter willow, delightfully +unconscious of a coming Paul Potter thunderstorm, and a miniature of +Shakespeare which did not resemble any of the portraits of him that I +am familiar with. Any amount of Turkish trappings and reminiscences of +Potocki and Kosciuszko, of course. As I had no guide-book, I am quite +prepared to learn that I overlooked the most important relics. + +In the cathedral, away up on the hill of Wawel, above the river Vistula +(Wisla) I prowled about among the crypts with a curious specimen of +beadledom who ran off long unintelligible histories in atrocious +Viennese patois about every solemn tomb by which we stood. So far as I +was concerned it might just as well have been the functionary who herds +small droves of visitors in Westminster Abbey. I never listen to these +people, because (i) I do not care to be informed; and (ii) since I +should never remember what they said, it is useless my even letting it +in at one ear. The kindly, cobwebby old person who piloted me +among those wonderful kings' graves in Cracow was personally not +uninteresting, indeed a fine study, and his rigmaroles brought up +infallibly upon three words which I could not fail to notice: these +were "silberner Sarg vergoldet" (silver coffin, gilded). It had an odd +fascination for me this phrase, as I stood always waiting for it; why, I +wondered, should anybody want to gild a good solid silver coffin? + +At the time of my first visit, the excavation necessary to form the +crypt for the resting-place of Mickiewicz[18] was in progress, and I +went in among the limey, dusty workmen, with their tallow candles, +and looked round. In return for my gulden, the beadle gave me a +few immortelles from Sobieski's tomb, and some laurel leaves from +Kosciuszko's; and remembering friends at home of refinedly ghoulish +tastes, I determined to preserve those poor moldering fragments for +them. + +Most of my days and evenings I spent wandering by the Vistula and in and +out of the hundred churches. My plan was to sight a spire, and then walk +to the root of it, so to speak. In this manner I saw the town very well. +The houses were of brick and plaster, the rich carmine-red brick that +has made Cracow so beautiful. On each was a beautiful façade, and +pediments in renaissance, bas-relief work of cupids, and classic figures +with ribands and roses tying among them, seeming to speak, somehow, of +the dead princes and the mighty aristocracy which had cost Cracow so +dear. + +In the Jews' quarter that loud lifelong market of theirs was going +forward, which required seemingly only some small basinfuls of sour +Gurken and a few spoonfuls of beans of its stock-in-trade. Mingling +among the Jews were the peasants, of course; the men in tightly fitting +trousers of white blanket cloth, rich embroidered on the upper part and +down the seams in blue and red; the women wearing pink printed muslin +skirts, often with a pale blue muslin apron and a lemon-colored fine +wool cloth, spotted in pink, upon the head. They manifested a great +appreciation of color, but none of form, and after the free dress of +the Hucal women, these people, mummied in their red tartan shawls--all +hybrid Stewarts, they seemed to me--were merely bright bundles in the +sunshine. + +In the shops in Cracow, French was nearly always the language of attack, +and a good deal was spoken in the hotel. I had occasion to buy a great +many things, but, according to my custom, not a photograph was among +them; therefore, when I go back, I shall receive perfectly new and fresh +impressions of the place, and can cherish no vague memories, encouraged +by an album at home, in which the nameless cathedrals of many countries +confuse themselves, and only the Coliseum at Rome stands forth, not to +be contradicted or misnamed. + +But it became necessary to put a period to my wandering, unless I wished +to find myself stranded in Vienna with "neither cross nor pile." The +references to money-matters have been designedly slight throughout these +pages. It is not my habit to keep accounts. I have never found that +you get any money back by knowing just how you have spent it, and a +conscience-pricking record of expenses is very ungrateful reading. So, +when a certain beautiful evening came, I felt that I had to look upon it +as my last. Being too early for the train, I bid the man drive about in +the early summer dark for three-quarters of an hour. + +To such as do not care for precise information and statistics in foreign +places, but appreciate rather atmosphere and impression, I can recommend +this course. In and out among the pretty garden woods, outside the town, +we drove. Buildings loomed majestically out of the night; sometimes it +was the tower of an unknown church, sometimes it was the house of some +forgotten family that sprang suggestively to the eye, and I was grateful +that I was left to suppose the indefinite type of Austrian bureau, which +occupied, in all probability, the first floor. Then we came to the +river, and later, Wawel stood massed out black upon the blue, the +glorious gravestone of a fallen Power. + +All the stars were shining, and little red-yellow lights in the castle +windows were not much bigger. Above the whisper of the willows on its +bank came the deep, quiet murmur of the Vistula, and every now and then, +over the several towers of the solemn old palaces and the spires of the +church where Poland has laid her kings, and so recently the king of the +poets, the stars were dropping from their places, like sudden spiders, +letting themselves down into the vast by faint yellow threads that +showed a moment after the star itself was gone. + +Later, as I looked from the open gallery of the train that was taking me +away, I could not help thinking that, just a hundred years ago, Wawel's +star was shining with a light bright enough for all Europe to see; +but even as the stars fell that night and left their places empty, so +Wawel's star has fallen and Poland's star has fallen too. + + +ON THE ROAD TO PRAGUE[19] + +BY BAYARD TAYLOR + +I was pleasantly disappointed on entering Bohemia. Instead of a dull, +uninteresting country, as I expected, it is a land full of the most +lovely scenery. There is everything which can gratify the eye--high blue +mountains, valleys of the sweetest pastoral look and romantic old ruins. +The very name of Bohemia is associated with wild and wonderful legends +of the rude barbaric ages. Even the chivalric tales of the feudal times +of Germany grow tame beside these earlier and darker histories. The +fallen fortresses of the Rhine or the robber-castles of the Odenwald +had not for me so exciting an interest as the shapeless ruins cumbering +these lonely mountains. The civilized Saxon race was left behind; I +saw around me the features and heard the language of one of those rude +Slavonic tribes whose original home was on the vast steppes of Central +Asia. + +I have rarely enjoyed traveling more than our first two days' journey +toward Prague. The range of the Erzgebirge ran along on our right; the +snow still lay in patches upon it, but the valleys between, with their +little clusters of white cottages, were green and beautiful. About six +miles before reaching Teplitz we passed Kulm, the great battlefield +which in a measure decided the fate of Napoleon. He sent Vandamme with +forty thousand men to attack the allies before they could unite their +forces, and thus effect their complete destruction. Only the almost +despairing bravery of the Russian guards under Ostermann, who held him +in check till the allied troops united, prevented Napoleon's design. At +the junction of the roads, where the fighting was hottest, the Austrians +have erected a monument to one of their generals. Not far from it is +that of Prussia, simple and tasteful. A woody hill near, with the little +village of Kulm at its foot, was the station occupied by Vandamme at +the commencement of the battle. There is now a beautiful chapel on its +summit which can be seen far and wide. A little distance farther the +Czar of Russia has erected a third monument, to the memory of the +Russians who fell. Four lions rest on the base of the pedestal, and on +the top of the shaft, forty-five feet high, Victory is represented as +engraving the date, "Aug. 30, 1813," on a shield. The dark pine-covered +mountains on the right overlook the whole field and the valley of +Torlitz; Napoleon rode along their crests several days after the battle +to witness the scene of his defeat. + +Teplitz lies in a lovely valley, several miles wide, bounded by the +Bohemian mountains on one side and the Erzgebirge on the other. One +straggling peak near is crowned with a picturesque ruin, at whose foot +the spacious bath-buildings lie half hidden in foliage. As we went +down the principal street I noticed nearly every house was a hotel; we +learned afterward that in summer the usual average of visitors is five +thousand.[20] The waters resemble those of the celebrated Carlsbad; they +are warm and practically efficacious in rheumatism and diseases of like +character. After leaving Teplitz the road turned to the east, toward a +lofty mountain which we had seen the morning before. The peasants, as +they passed by, saluted us with "Christ greet you!" + +We stopt for the night at the foot of the peak called the Milleschauer, +and must have ascended nearly two thousand feet, for we had a wide view +the next morning, altho' the mists and clouds hid the half of it. The +weather being so unfavorable, we concluded not to ascend, and descended +through green fields and orchards snowy with blossoms to Lobositz, on +the Elbe. Here we reached the plains again, where everything wore the +luxuriance of summer; it was a pleasant change from the dark and rough +scenery we left. + +The road passed through Theresienstadt, the fortress of Northern +Bohemia. The little city is surrounded by a double wall and moat which +can be filled with water, rendering it almost impossible to be taken. In +the morning we were ferried over the Moldau, and after journeying nearly +all day across barren, elevated plains saw, late in the afternoon, the +sixty-seven spires of Prague below. + +I feel out of the world in this strange, fantastic, yet beautiful, old +city. We have been rambling all morning through its winding streets, +stopping sometimes at a church to see the dusty tombs and shrines or to +hear the fine music which accompanies the morning mass. I have seen no +city yet that so forcibly reminds one of the past and makes him forget +everything but the associates connected with the scenes around him. +The language adds to the illusion. Three-fourths of the people in the +streets speak Bohemian and many of the signs are written in the same +tongue. + +The palace of the Bohemian kings still looks down on the city from the +western heights, and their tombs stand in the cathedral of St. John. +When one has climbed up the stone steps leading to the fortress, there +is a glorious prospect before him. Prague with its spires and towers +lies in the valleys below, through which curves the Moldau with its +green islands, disappearing among the hills which enclose the city on +every side. The fantastic Byzantine architecture of many of the churches +and towers gives the city a peculiar Oriental appearance; it seems to +have been transported from the hills of Syria.... + +Having found out first a few of the locations, we haunted our way with +difficulty through its labyrinths, seeking out every place of note or +interest. Reaching the bridge at last, we concluded to cross over and +ascend to the Hradschin, the palace of the Bohemian kings. The bridge +was commenced in 1357, and was one hundred and fifty years in building. +That was the way the old Germans did their work, and they made a +structure which will last a thousand years longer. Every pier is +surmounted with groups of saints and martyrs, all so worn and timebeaten +that there is little left of their beauty, if they ever had any. The +most important of them--at least to Bohemians--is that of St. John +Nepomuk, now considered as the patron-saint of the land. He was a priest +many centuries ago [1340-1393] whom one of the kings threw from the +bridge into the Moldau because he refused to reveal to him what the +queen confest. The legend says the body swam for some time on the river +with five stars around its head. + +Ascending the broad flight of steps to the Hradschin, I paused a moment +to look at the scene below. A slight blue haze hung over the clustering +towers, and the city looked dim through it, like a city seen in a dream. +It was well that it should so appear, for not less dim and misty are the +memories that haunt its walls. There was no need of a magician's wand to +bid that light cloud shadow forth the forms of other times. They +came uncalled for even by Fancy. Far, far back in the past I saw the +warrior-princess who founded the kingly city--the renowned Libussa, +whose prowess and talent inspired the women of Bohemia to rise at her +death and storm the land that their sex might rule where it obeyed +before. On the mountain opposite once stood the palace of the bloody +Wlaska, who reigned with her Amazon band for seven years over half +Bohemia. Those streets below had echoed with the fiery words of Huss, +and the castle of his follower--the blind Ziska, who met and defeated +the armies of the German Empire--molders on the mountains above. Many a +year of war and tempest has passed over the scene. The hills around have +borne the armies of Wallenstein and Frederick the Great; the war-cry of +Bavaria, Sweden and Poland has echoed in the valley, and the red glare +of the midnight cannon or the flames of burning palaces have often +gleamed along the "blood-dyed waters" of the Moldau... + +On the way down again we stept into the St. Nicholas Church, which was +built by the Jesuits. The interior has a rich effect, being all of brown +and gold. The massive pillars are made to resemble reddish-brown +marble, with gilded capitals, and the statues at the base are profusely +ornamented in the same style. The music chained me there a long time. +There was a grand organ, assisted by a full orchestra and large choir of +singers. It was placed above, and at every sound of the priest's bell +the flourish of trumpets and deep roll of the drums filled the dome with +a burst of quivering sound, while the giant pipes of the organ breathed +out their full harmony and the very air shook under the peal. It was +like a triumphal strain. The soul became filled with thoughts of power +and glory; every sense was changed into one dim, indistinct emotion of +rapture which held the spirit as if spellbound. + +Not far from this place is the palace of Wallenstein, in the same +condition as when he inhabited it. It is a plain, large building having +beautiful gardens attached to it, which are open to the public. We +went through the courtyard, threaded a passage with a roof of rough +stalactitic rock and entered the garden, where a revolving fountain was +casting up its glittering arches. + + +THE CAVE OF ADELSBERG[21] + +BY GEORGE STILLMAN HILLARD + +The night had been passed at Adelsberg, and the morning had been +agreeably occupied in exploring the wonders of its celebrated cavern. +The entrance is through an opening in the side of a hill. In a few +moments, after walking down a gentle descent, a sound of flowing water +is heard, and the light of the torches borne by the guides gleams +faintly upon a river which runs through these sunless chasms, and +revisits the glimpses of day at Planina, some ten miles distant. + +The visitor now finds himself in a vast hall, walled and roofed by +impenetrable darkness of the stream, which is crossed by a wooden +bridge; and the ascent on the other side is made by a similar flight of +steps. The bridge and steps are marked by a double row of lights, which +present a most striking appearance as their tremulous luster struggles +through the night that broods over them. Such a scene recalls Milton's +sublime pictures of Pandemonium, and shows directly to the eye what +effects a great imaginative painter may produce with no other colors +than light and darkness. Here are the "stately height," the "ample +spaces," the "arched roof," the rows of "starry lamps and blazing +cressets" of Satan's hall of council; and by the excited fancy the dim +distance is easily peopled with gigantic forms and filled with the +"rushing of congregated wings." + +After this, one is led through a variety of chambers, differing in size +and form, but essentially similar in character, and the attention is +invited to the innumerable multitude of striking and fantastic objects +which have been formed in the lapse of ages, by the mere dropping of +water. Pendants hang from the roof, stalagmites grow from the floor like +petrified stumps, and pillars and buttresses are disposed as oddly as +in the architecture of a dream. Here, we are told to admire a bell, and +there, a throne; here, a pulpit, and there, a butcher's shop; here, "the +two hearts," and there, a fountain frozen into alabaster; and in every +case we assent to the resemblance in the unquestioning mood of Polonius. +One of the chambers, or halls, is used every year as a ball-room, for +which purpose it has every requisite except an elastic floor, even to a +natural dais for the orchestra. + +Here, with the sort of pride with which a book collector shows a Mazarin +Bible or a folio Shakespeare, the guides point out a beautiful piece of +limestone which hangs from the roof in folds as delicate as a Cashmere +shawl, to which the resemblance is made more exact by a well-defined +border of deeper color than the web. Through this translucent curtain +the light shines as through a picture in porcelain, and one must be very +unimpressible not to bestow the tribute of admiration which is claimed. +These are the trivial details which may be remembered and described, +but the general effect produced by the darkness, the silence, the vast +spaces, the innumerable forms, the vaulted roofs, the pillars and +galleries melting away in the gloom like the long-drawn aisles of a +cathedral, may be recalled but not communicated. + +To see all these marvels requires much time, and I remained under ground +long enough to have a new sense of the blessing of light. The first +glimpse of returning day seen through the distant entrance brought with +it an exhilarating sense of release, and the blue sky and cheerful +sunshine were welcomed like the faces of long absent friends. A cave +like that of Adelsberg--for all limestone caves are, doubtless, +essentially similar in character--ought by all means to be seen if it +comes in one's way, because it leaves impressions upon the mind unlike +those derived from any other object. Nature stamps upon most of her +operations a certain character of gravity and majesty. Order and +symmetry attend upon her steps, and unity in variety is the law by which +her movements are guided. But, beneath the surface of the earth, +she seems a frolicsome child, or a sportive undine, who wreaths the +unmanageable stone into weird and quaint forms, seemingly from no +other motive than pure delight in the exercise of overflowing power. +Everything is playful, airy, and fantastic; there is no spirit of +soberness; no reference to any ulterior end; nothing from which food, +fuel, or raiment can be extracted. These chasms have been scooped out, +and these pillars have been reared, in the spirit in which the bird +sings, or the kitten plays with the falling leaves. From such scenes we +may safely infer that the plan of the Creator comprehends something +more than material utility, that beauty is its own vindictator and +interpreter, that sawmills were not the ultimate cause of mountain +streams, nor wine-bottles of cork-trees. + + +THE MONASTERY OF MÖLK[22] + +BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN + +We had determined upon dining at Mölk the next day. The early morning +was somewhat inauspicious; but as the day advanced, it grew bright and +cheerful. Some delightful glimpses of the Danube, to the left, from the +more elevated parts of the road, accompanied us the whole way, till we +caught the first view, beneath a bright blue sky, of the towering church +and Monastery of Mölk. + +Conceive what you please, and yet you shall not conceive the situation +of this monastery. Less elevated above the road than Chremsminster, but +of a more commanding style of architecture, and of considerably greater +extent, it strikes you--as the Danube winds round and washes its rocky +base--as one of the noblest edifices in the world. The wooded heights +of the opposite side of the Danube crown the view of this magnificent +edifice, in a manner hardly to be surpassed. There is also a beautiful +play of architectural lines and ornament in the front of the building, +indicative of a pure Italian taste, and giving to the edifice, if not +the air of towering grandeur, at least of dignified splendor.... + +As usual, I ordered a late dinner, intending to pay my respects to +the Principal, and obtain permission to inspect the library. My late +monastic visits had inspired me with confidence; and I marched up the +steep sides of the hill, upon which the monastery is built, quite +assured of the success of the visit I was about to pay. You must now +accompany the bibliographer to the monastery. In five minutes from +entering the outer gate of the first quadrangle--looking toward +Vienna, and which is the more ancient part of the building--I was in +conversation with the Vice-Principal and Librarian, each of us speaking +Latin. I delivered the letter which I had received at Salzburg, and +proceeded to the library. + +The view from this library is really enchanting, and put everything seen +from a similar situation at Landshut and almost even at Chremsminster, +out of my recollection. You look down upon the Danube, catching a fine +sweep of the river, as it widens in its course toward Vienna. A man +might sit, read, and gaze--in such a situation--till he fancied he had +scarcely one earthly want! I now descended a small staircase, which +brought me directly into the large library--forming the right wing of +the building, looking up the Danube toward Lintz. I had scarcely uttered +three notes of admiration, when the Abbé Strattman entered; and to my +surprise and satisfaction, addrest me by name. We immediately commenced +an ardent unintermitting conversation in the French language, which the +Abbé speaks fluently and correctly. + +I now took a leisurely survey of the library; which is, beyond +all doubt, the finest room of its kind which I have seen upon the +Continent--not for its size, but for its style of architecture, and the +materials of which it is composed. I was told that it was "the Imperial +Library in miniature,"--but with this difference, let me here add, in +favor of Mölk--that it looks over a magnificently wooded country, with +the Danube rolling its rapid course at its base. The wainscot and +shelves are walnut tree, of different shades, inlaid, or dovetailed, +surmounted by gilt ornaments. The pilasters have Corinthian capitals of +gilt; and the bolder or projecting parts of a gallery, which surrounds +the room, are covered with the same metal. Everything is in harmony. +This library may be about a hundred feet in length, by forty in width. +It is sufficiently well furnished with books, of the ordinary useful +class, and was once, I suspect, much richer in the bibliographical lore +of the fifteenth century. + +On reaching the last descending step, just before entering the church, +the Vice-Principal bade me look upward and view the corkscrew staircase. +I did so; and to view and admire was one and the same operation of the +mind. It was the most perfect and extraordinary thing of the kind which +I had ever seen--the consummation, as I was told, of that particular +species of art. The church is the very perfection of ecclesiastical +Roman architecture; that of Chremsminster, altho' fine, being much +inferior to it in loftiness and richness of decoration. The windows +are fixt so as to throw their concentrated light beneath a dome, of no +ordinary height, and of no ordinary elegance of decoration; but this +dome is suffering from damp, and the paintings upon the ceiling will, +unless repaired, be effaced in the course of a few years. + +The church is in the shape of a cross; and at the end of each of the +transepts, is a rich altar, with statuary, in the style of art usual +about a century ago. The pews--made of dark mahogany or walnut tree, +much after the English fashion, but lower and more tasteful--are placed +on each side of the nave, or entering; with ample space between them. +They are exclusively appropriated to the tenants of the monastery. At +the end of the nave, you look to the left, opposite--and observe, placed +in a recess--a pulpit, which, from top to bottom, is completely covered +with gold. And yet, there is nothing gaudy or tasteless, or glaringly +obtrusive, in this extraordinary clerical rostrum. The whole is in the +most perfect taste; and perhaps more judgment was required to manage +such an ornament, or appendage--consistently with the splendid style +of decoration exacted by the founder, for it was expressly the Prelate +Dietmayr's wish that it should be so adorned,--than may on first +consideration be supposed. In fact, the whole church is in a blaze +of gold; and I was told that the gilding alone cost upward of ninety +thousand florins. Upon the whole, I understood that the church of this +monastery was considered as the most beautiful in Austria; and I can +easily believe it to be so. + + +THROUGH THE TYROL[23] + +BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT + +I left this most pleasing of the Italian cities (Venice), and took the +road for the Tyrol. We passed through a level fertile country, formerly +the territory of Venice, watered by the Piave, which ran blood in one of +Bonaparte's battles. At evening we arrived at Ceneda, where our Italian +poet Da Ponte[24] was born, situated just at the base of the Alps, the +rocky peaks and irregular spires of which, beautifully green with the +showery season, rose in the background. Ceneda seems to have something +of German cleanliness about it, and the floors of a very comfortable inn +at which we stopt were of wood, the first we had seen in Italy, tho' +common throughout Tyrol and the rest of Germany. A troop of barelegged +boys, just broke loose from school, whooping and swinging their books +and slates in the air, passed under my window. + +On leaving Ceneda, we entered a pass in the mountains, the gorge of +which was occupied by the ancient town of Serravalle, resting on +arcades, the architecture of which denoted that it was built during the +Middle Ages. Near it I remarked an old castle, which formerly commanded +the pass, one of the finest ruins of the kind I had ever seen. It had a +considerable extent of battlemented wall in perfect preservation, and +both that and its circular tower were so luxuriantly loaded with ivy +that they seemed almost to have been cut out of the living verdure. +As we proceeded we became aware how worthy this region was to be the +birthplace of a poet. + +A rapid stream, a branch of the Piave, tinged of a light and somewhat +turbid blue by the soil of the mountains, came tumbling and roaring +down the narrow valley; perpendicular precipices rose on each side; and +beyond, the gigantic brotherhood of the Alps, in two long files of steep +pointed summits, divided by deep ravines, stretched away in the sunshine +to the northeast. In the face of one of the precipices by the way-side, +a marble slab is fixt, informing the traveler that the road was opened +by the late Emperor of Germany in the year of 1830. We followed this +romantic valley for a considerable distance, passing several little blue +lakes lying in their granite basins, one of which is called the "Lago +Morto" or Dead Lake, from having no outlet for its waters. + +At length we began to ascend, by a winding road, the steep sides of the +Alps--the prospect enlarging as we went, the mountain summits rising to +sight around us, one behind another, some of them white with snow, over +which the wind blew with a wintry keenness--deep valleys opening +below us, and gulfs yawning between rocks over which old bridges were +thrown--and solemn fir forests clothing the broad declivities. The +farm-houses placed on these heights, instead of being of brick or stone, +as in the plains and valleys below, were principally built of wood; +the second story, which served for a barn, being encircled by a long +gallery, and covered with a projecting roof of plank held down with +large stones. + +We stopt at Venas, a wretched place with a wretched inn, the hostess +of which showed us a chin swollen with the goitre, and ushered us into +dirty comfortless rooms where we passed the night. When we awoke the +rain was beating against the windows, and, on looking out, the forest +and sides of the neighboring mountains, at a little height above us, +appeared hoary with snow. We set out in the rain, but had not proceeded +far before we heard the sleet striking against the windows of the +carriage, and soon came to where the snow covered the ground to the +depth of one or two inches. + +Continuing to ascend, we passed out of Italy and entered the Tyrol. The +storm had ceased before we went through the first Tyrolese village, and +we could not help being struck with the change in the appearance of the +inhabitants--the different costume, the less erect figures, the awkward +gait, the lighter complexions, the neatly-kept inhabitations, and the +absence of beggars. As we advanced, the clouds began to roll off from +the landscape, disclosing here and there, through openings in their +broad skirts as they swept along, glimpses of the profound valleys below +us, and of the white sides and summits of mountains in the mid-sky +above. At length the sun appeared, and revealed a prospect of such +wildness, grandeur, and splendor as I have never before seen. + +Lofty peaks of the most fantastic shapes, with deep clefts between, +sharp needles of rock, and overhanging crags, infinite in multitude, +shot up everywhere around us, glistening in the new-fallen snow, with +thin wreaths of mist creeping along their sides. At intervals, swollen +torrents, looking at a distance like long trains of foam, came +thundering down the mountains, and crossing the road, plunged into the +verdant valleys which winded beneath. Beside the highway were fields +of young grain, prest to the ground with the snow; and in the meadows, +ranunculuses of the size of roses, large yellow violets, and a thousand +other Alpine flowers of the most brilliant hues, were peeping through +their white covering. + +We stopt to breakfast at a place called Landro, a solitary inn, in the +midst of this grand scenery, with a little chapel beside it. The water +from the dissolving snow was dropping merrily from the roof in a bright +June sun. We needed not to be told that we were in Germany, for we saw +it plainly enough in the nicely-washed floor of the apartment into which +we were shown, in the neat cupboard with the old prayer-book lying upon +it, and in the general appearance of housewifery; to say nothing of the +evidence we had in the beer and tobacco-smoke of the travelers' room, +and the guttural dialect and quiet tones of the guests. + +From Landro we descended gradually into the beautiful valleys of the +Tyrol, leaving the snow behind, tho' the white peaks of the mountains +were continually in sight. At Bruneck, in an inn resplendent with +neatness--we had the first specimen of a German bed. It is narrow and +short, and made so high at the head, by a number of huge square bolsters +and pillows, that you rather sit than lie. The principal covering is a +bag of down, very properly denominated the upper bed, and between this +and the feather-bed below, the traveler is expected to pass a night. An +asthmatic patient on a cold winter night might perhaps find such a couch +tolerably comfortable, if he could prevent the narrow covering from +slipping off on one side or the other. + +The next day we were afforded an opportunity of observing more closely +the inhabitants of this singular region, by a festival, or holiday of +some sort, which brought them into the roads in great numbers, arrayed +in their best dresses--the men in short jackets and small-clothes, with +broad gay-colored suspenders over their waistcoats, and leathern belts +ornamented with gold or silver leaf--the women in short petticoats +composed of horizontal bands of different colors--and both sexes, for +the most part, wearing broad-brimmed hats with hemispherical crowns, +tho' there was a sugar-loaf variety much affected by the men, adorned +with a band of lace and sometimes a knot of flowers. They are a robust, +healthy-looking race, tho' they have an awkward stoop in the shoulders. +But what struck me most forcibly was the devotional habits of the +people. + +The Tyrolese might be cited as an illustration of the remark, that +mountaineers are more habitually and profoundly religious than others. +Persons of all sexes, young and old, whom we meet in the road, were +repeating their prayers audibly. We passed a troop of old women, all in +broad-brimmed hats and short gray petticoats, carrying long staves, one +of whom held a bead-roll and gave out the prayers, to which the others +made the responses in chorus. They looked at us so solemnly from under +their broad brims, and marched along with so grave and deliberate a +pace, that I could hardly help fancying that the wicked Austrians had +caught a dozen elders of the respectable Society of Friends, and put +them in petticoats to punish them for their heresy. We afterward saw +persons going to the labors of the day, or returning, telling their +rosaries and saying their prayers as they went, as if their devotions +had been their favorite amusement. At regular intervals of about half a +mile, we saw wooden crucifixes erected by the way-side, covered from the +weather with little sheds, bearing the image of the Savior, crowned with +thorns and frightfully dashed with streaks and drops of red paint, to +represent the blood that flowed from his wounds. The outer walls of the +better kind of houses were ornamented with paintings in fresco, and the +subjects of these were mostly sacred, such as the Virgin and Child, the +Crucifixion, and the Ascension. The number of houses of worship was +surprising; I do not mean spacious or stately churches such as we meet +with in Italy, but most commonly little chapels dispersed so as best to +accommodate the population. Of these the smallest neighborhood has one +for the morning devotions of its inhabitants, and even the solitary inn +has its little consecrated building with its miniature spire, for the +convenience of pious wayfarers. + +At Sterzing, a little village beautifully situated at the base of the +mountain called the Brenner, and containing, as I should judge, not more +than two or three thousand inhabitants, we counted seven churches and +chapels within the compass of a square mile. The observances of the +Roman Catholic church are nowhere more rigidly complied with than in the +Tyrol. When we stopt at Bruneck on Friday evening, I happened to drop +a word about a little meat for dinner in a conversation with the +spruce-looking landlady, who appeared so shocked that I gave up the +point, on the promise of some excellent and remarkably well-flavored +trout from the stream that flowed through the village--a promise that +was literally fulfilled.... + +We descended the Brenner on the 28th of June in a snow-storm, the wind +whirling the light flakes in the air as it does with us in winter. It +changed to rain, however, as we approached the beautiful and picturesque +valley watered by the river Inn, on the banks of which stands the fine +old town of Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol. Here we visited the +Church of the Holy Cross, in which is the bronze tomb of Maxmilian I. +and twenty or thirty bronze statues ranged on each side of the nave, +representing fierce warrior-chiefs, and gowned prelates, and stately +damsels of the middle ages. These are all curious for the costume; the +warriors are cased in various kinds of ancient armor, and brandish +various ancient weapons, and the robes of the females are flowing and by +no means ungraceful. Almost every one of the statues has its hands and +fingers in some constrained and awkward position; as if the artist knew +as little what to do with them as some awkward and bashful people know +what to do with their own. Such a crowd of figures in that ancient garb, +occupying the floor in the midst of the living worshipers of the present +day, has an effect which at first is startling. + +From Innsbruck we climbed and crossed another mountain-ridge, scarcely +less wild and majestic in its scenery than those we had left behind. On +descending, we observed that the crucifixes had disappeared from the +roads, and the broad-brimmed and sugar-loaf hats from the heads of the +peasantry; the men wore hats contracted in the middle of the crown like +an hour-glass, and the women caps edged with a broad band of black fur, +the frescoes on the outside of the houses became less frequent; in short +it was apparent that we had entered a different region, even if the +custom-house and police officers on the frontier had not signified to us +that we were now in the kingdom of Bavaria. We passed through extensive +forests of fir, here and there checkered with farms, and finally came +to the broad elevated plain bathed by the Isar, in which Munich is +situated. + + +IN THE DOLOMITES[25] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +The Dolomites are part of the Southern Tyrol. One portion is Italian, +one portion is Austrian, and the rivalry of the two nations is keen. +Under a warm summer sun, the quaint little villages seem half asleep, +and the inhabitants appear to drift dreamily through life. Yet this is +more apparent than real for, in many respects, the people here are busy +in their own way. + +Crossing this region are many mountain ranges of limestone structure, +which by water, weather and other causes have been worn away into the +most fantastic fissures and clefts and the most picturesque peaks and +pinnacles. A very great charm is their curious coloring, often of great +beauty. The region of the Dolomites is a great contrast to the rest of +the Alps. Its characteristics do not make the same appeal to all. This +is largely not only a matter of individual taste and temperament but +also of one's mental or spiritual constitution, for the picture with its +setting depends as much upon what it suggests as upon its constituent +parts. The Dolomites suggest Italy in the contour of the country, in the +grace of the inhabitants and in the colors which make the scene one of +rich magnificence. The great artist Titian was born here[26] and he +probably learned much from his observation of his native place. + +Many of the mountain ranges are of the usual gray but such is the +atmospheric condition that they seem to reflect the rosy rays of the +setting sun or the purplish haze that often is found. The peaks are not +great peaks in the sense that we speak of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, +the Matterhorn or Monte Rosa. They impress one more as pictures with +wonderful lights and strange grouping.... + +If the reader intends some day to visit the Dolomites he is advised to +enter from the north. Salzburg and the Salzkammergut, so much frequented +by the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Austrian nobility, make a good +introduction. Then by way of Innsbruck, one of the gems of the Tyrol, +Toblach is reached, where the driving tour may properly begin. Toblach +is a lovely place, if one stops long enough to see it and enjoy it! It +is not very far to Cortina, the center of this beautiful region. The way +there is very lovely. And driving is in keeping with the spirit of the +place. It almost seems profane to rush through in a motor, as some do, +for not only is it impossible to appreciate the scenery, but also it is +out of harmony with the peace and quiet which reign. + +For a while there is traversed a little valley quite embowered in green, +but presently this abruptly leads into a wild gorge, with jagged peaks +on every side. Soon Monte Cristallo appears. This is the most striking +of all the Dolomite peaks. At a tiny village, called Schluderbach, the +road forks, that to the right going directly to Cortina, the other to +the left proceeding by way of Lake Misurina. Lake Misurina is a pretty +stretch of water, pale green in color and at an altitude of about 5,800 +feet. On its shores are two very attractive and well-kept hotels, with +charming walks, from which one looks on a splendid panorama, picturesque +in extreme. + +From Misurina, the road again ascends, becoming very narrow and very +steep. The top is called "Passo Tre Croci," the Pass of the Three +Crosses. The outlook is very lovely, with the three serrated peaks Monte +Cristallo, Monte Piano and Monte Tofana, standing as guardian sentinels +over the little valley of Ampezzo far below, where lies Cortina +sleeping in the sun, while in the distance shine the snow fields of the +Marmolata. Just as steeply as it climbed up one side, the road descends +on the other side, to Cortina. This place is the capital of the valley +and altogether lovely; beautiful in its woods and meadows, beautiful in +its mountain views, beautiful in the town itself and beautiful in its +people. + +Cortina has much to boast of--an ancient church and some old houses; an +industrial school in which the villagers are taught the most delicate +and artistic (and withal comparatively cheap) filigree mosaic work; and +a community of people, handsome in face and figure and possessing +a carriage and refinement superior to any seen elsewhere among the +mountaineers or peasantry. In the neighborhood of Cortina are many +excursions and also extended rock climbs, but those who go there in the +summer will be more apt to linger lazily amid the cool shade of the +trees than to brave the hot Italian sun on the peaks! + +After a few days' stay at Cortina, the drive is continued. There are +many ways out. You can return by a new route to Toblach and the Upper +Tyrol. Or you can go south to Belluno and thence to northern Italy. Or +a third way and perhaps the finest tour of all is that over a series of +magnificent mountain passes to Botzen. This last crosses the Ampezzo +Valley and then begins the ascent of Monte Tofana, which here is +beautifully wooded. Steepness seems characteristic of this region! + +It is hard to imagine a carriage climbing a road any steeper than that +one on the slopes of Monte Tofana! If narrow and steep is the way and +hard and toilsome the climb this Monte Tofana route most certainly +repays one when it reaches the Falzarego Pass (6,945 feet high) which is +certainly an earthly Paradise! One can not aptly describe a view like +that! It is all a picture; as if every part was purposely what it is, +here rocky, here green, here snowy, with summits, valleys, ravines and +villages and even a partly ruined castle to form a whole such as an +artist or poet would revel in. + +After a pause on the summit of the Pass, again comes a steep descent, +as the drive is resumed, which continues to Andraz, where déjeuner +is taken. One can not live on air or scenery and even the most +indefatigable sightseer sometimes turns with longing to luncheon! Then +one returns with added zest to the feast of eye and soul. And at Andraz, +as one lingers awhile after luncheon on that high mountain terrace, +a lovelier scene than that spread before the eye could scarcely be +imagined. Indeed it is a "dream-scene," and as seen in the sleepy +stillness of the early afternoon, when the shadows are already playing +with the lights and gradually overcoming them, it seems like fancy, not +reality. + +Again the carriage is taken and soon the road is climbing once more, +this time giving fine views of the Sella group of peaks and going +through a series of picturesque valleys. At Arabba (5,255 feet), a +pretty little village, the final ascent to Pordoi begins. The +scenery undergoes a change. It becomes more wild and barren and the +characteristics of the high Alps appear. The hour begins to be late and +it becomes cold, but the light still lingers as the carriage reaches the +summit of the pass and stops at the new Hôtel Pordoi (7,020 feet high) +facing the weird, fantastic shapes of the Rosengarten and the Langkofel, +on the one side and on the other the snowy Marmolata and the summits +about Cortina.... + +The following morning the start is made for Botzen. The way steadily +descends for hours, past the pretty hamlets of Canazei, Campitello and +Vigo di Fassa, surrounded by an imposing array of Dolomite peaks. After +crossing the Karer Pass the scenery becomes much more soft and pastoral. +Below the pass, most beautifully situated is a little green lake called +the Karer-See.... + +At Botzen the drive through the Dolomites ends. At best it gives but +a glimpse of this delightful region! That glimpse leaves a lasting +impression, not of snowy summits and glistening glaciers, but of +wonderful rocks and more wonderful coloring and of great peaks of +fantastic form, set in a garden spot of green. And Botzen is a fitting +terminus. It dates far back to the Middle Ages. It boasts of churches, +houses and public buildings of artistic merit and architectural beauty +and over all there lingers an atmosphere of rest and refinement, +refreshing to see, where there might have been the noisy bustle and +hopeless vulgarity of so many places similarly situated. + +There is plenty going on, nevertheless, for Botzen is quite a little +commercial center in its own way, but with it there is this charm +of dignified repose. One wanders through the town under the cool +colonnades, strolls into some ancient cloisters, kneels for a moment in +some finely carved church and then goes out again to the open, to see +far above the little city that beautiful background of the Dolomite +peaks, dominated by the wonderfully impressive and fantastic Rosengarten +range, golden red in the western sun. With such a view experience may +well lapse into memory, to linger on so long as the mind possesses the +power of recalling the past. + + +CORTINA[27] + +BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS + +Situate on the left bank of the Boita, which here runs nearly due north +and south, with the Tre Croci pass opening away behind the town to the +east, and the Tre Sassi Pass widening before it to the west, Cortina +lies in a comparatively open space between four great mountains, and is +therefore less liable to danger from bergfalls than any other village +not only in the Val d'Ampezo but in the whole adjacent district. For +the same reason, it is cooler in summer than either Caprile, Agordo, +Primiero, or Predazzo; all of which, tho' more central as stopping +places, and in many respects more convenient, are yet somewhat too +closely hemmed in by surrounding heights. The climate of Cortina is +temperate throughout the year. Ball gives the village an elevation of +4,048 feet above the level of the sea; and one of the parish priests--an +intelligent old man who has devoted many years of his life to collecting +the flora of the Ampezzo--assured me that he had never known the +thermometer drop so low as fifteen degrees[28] of frost in even the +coldest winters. The soil, for all this, has a bleak and barren look; +the maize (here called "grano Turco") is cultivated, but does not +flourish; and the vine is unknown. But then agriculture is not a +specialty of the Ampezzo Thal, and the wealth of Cortina is derived +essentially from its pasture-lands and forests. + +These last, in consequence of the increased and increasing value of +timber, have been lavishly cut down of late years by the Commune--too +probably at the expense of the future interests of Cortina. For the +present, however, every inn, homestead, and public building bespeaks +prosperity. The inhabitants are well-fed and well-drest. Their fairs +and festivals are the most considerable in all the South Eastern Tyrol; +their principal church is the largest this side of St. Ulrich; and their +new Gothic Campanile, 250 feet high, might suitably adorn the piazza of +such cities as Bergamo or Belluno. + +The village contains about 700 souls, but the population of the Commune +numbers over 2,500. Of these, the greater part, old and young, rich and +poor, men, women, and children, are engaged in the timber trade. Some +cut the wood; some transport it. The wealthy convey it on trucks drawn +by fine horses which, however, are cruelly overworked. The poor harness +themselves six or eight in a team, men, women, and boys together, and +so, under the burning summer sun, drag loads that look as if they might +be too much for an elephant.... + +To ascend the Campanile and get the near view over the village, was +obviously one of the first duties of a visitor; so, finding the door +open and the old bellringer inside, we mounted laboriously to the +top--nearly a hundred feet higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. +Standing here upon the outer gallery above the level of the great +bells, we had the village and valley at our feet. The panorama, tho' it +included little which we had not seen already, was fine all around, and +served to impress the mainland marks upon our memory. The Ampezzo Thal +opened away to north and south, and the twin passes of the Tre Croci and +Tre Sassi intersected it to east and west. When we had fixt in our minds +the fact that Landro and Bruneck lay out to the north, and Perarolo to +the south; that Auronzo was to be found somewhere on the other side of +the Tre Croci; and that to arrive at Caprile it was necessary to go over +the Tre Sassi, we had gained something in the way of definite topography. +The Marmolata and Civetta, as we knew by our maps, were on the side +of Caprile; and the Marmarole on the side of Auronzo. The Pelmo, left +behind yesterday, was peeping even now above the ridge of the Rochetta; +and a group of fantastic rocks, so like the towers and bastions of a +ruined castle that we took them at first sight for the remains of some +medieval stronghold, marked the summit of the Tre Sassi to the west. + +"But what mountain is that far away to the south?" we asked, pointing in +the direction of Perarolo. + +"Which mountain, Signora?" + +"That one yonder, like a cathedral front with two towers." + +The old bellringer shaded his eyes with one trembling hand, and peered +down the valley. + +"Eh," he said, "it is some mountain on the Italian side." + +"But what is it called?" + +"Eh," he repeated, with a puzzled look, "who knows? I don't know that I +ever noticed it before." + +Now it was a very singular mountain--one of the most singular and the +most striking that we saw throughout the tour. It was exactly like +the front of Notre Dame, with one slender aiguille, like a flagstaff, +shooting up from the top of one of its battlemented towers. It was +conspicuous from most points on the left bank of the Boita; but the best +view, as I soon after discovered, was from the rising ground behind +Cortina, going up through the fields in the direction of the Begontina +torrent. + +To this spot we returned again and again, fascinated as much, perhaps, +by the mystery in which it was enveloped, as by the majestic outline of +this unknown mountain, to which, for want of a better, we gave the name +of Notre Dame. For the old bellringer was not alone in his ignorance. +Ask whom we would, we invariably received the same vague reply--it was +a mountain "on the Italian side." They knew no more; and some, like our +friend of the Campanile, had evidently "not noticed it before." + + + +IX + +ALPINE RESORTS + +THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS[29] + +BY FREDERIC HARRISON + +Once more--perhaps for the last time--I listen to the unnumbered +tinkling of the cow-bells on the slopes--"the sweet bells of the +sauntering herd"--to the music of the cicadas in the sunshine, and the +shouts of the neat herdlads, echoing back from Alp to Alp. I hear the +bubbling of the mountain rill, I watch the emerald moss of the pastures +gleaming in the light, and now and then the soft white mist creeping +along the glen, as our poet says, "puts forth an arm and creeps from +pine to pine." And see, the wild flowers, even in this waning season of +the year, the delicate lilac of the dear autumn crocus, which seems to +start up elf-like out of the lush grass, the coral beads of the rowan, +and the beech-trees just begun to wear their autumn jewelry of old gold. + +As I stroll about these hills, more leisurely, more thoughtfully than I +used to do of old in my hot mountaineering days, I have tried to think +out what it is that makes the Alpine landscape so marvelous a tonic to +the spirit--what is the special charm of it to those who have once felt +all its inexhaustible magic. Other lands have rare beauties, wonders of +their own, sights to live in the memory for ever. + +In France, in Italy, in Spain, in Greece and in Turkey, I hold in memory +many a superb landscape. From boyhood upward I thirsted for all kinds of +Nature's gifts, whether by sea, or by river, lake, mountain, or forest. +For sixty years at least I have roved about the white cliffs, the moors, +the riversides, lakes, and pastures of our own islands from Penzance to +Cape Wrath, from Beachy Head to the Shetlands. I love them all. But +they can not touch me, as do the Alps, with the sense at once of +inexhaustible loveliness and of a sort of conscious sympathy with every +fiber of man's heart and brain. Why then is this so? + +I find it in the immense range of the moods in which Nature is seen +in the Alps, as least by those who have fully absorbed all the forms, +sights, sounds, wonders, and adventures they offer. An hour's walk will +show them all in profound contrast and yet in exquisite harmony. The +Alps form a book of Nature as wide and as mysterious as Life. + +Earth has no scenes of placid fruitfulness more balmy than the banks of +one of the larger lakes, crowded with vineyards, orchards, groves and +pastures, down to the edge of its watery mirror, wherein, beside a +semi-tropical vegetation, we see the image of some medieval castle, of +some historic tower, and thence the eye strays up to sunless gorges, +swept with avalanches, and steaming with feathery cascades; and higher +yet one sees against the skyline ranges of terrific crags, girt with +glaciers, and so often wreathed in storm clouds. + +All that Earth has of most sweet, softest, easiest, most suggestive of +langor and love, of fertility and abundance--here is seen in one vision +beside all that Nature has most hard, most cruel, most unkind to +Man--where life is one long weary battle with a frost bitten soil, and +every peasant's hut has been built up stone by stone, and log by log, +with sweat and groans, and wrecked hopes. In a few hours one may pass +from an enchanted garden, where every sense is satiated, and every +flower and leaf and gleam of light is intoxication, up into a wilderness +of difficult crags and yawning glaciers, which men can reach only by +hard-earned skill, tough muscle and iron nerves.... + +The Alps are international, European, Humanitarian. Four written +languages are spoken in their valleys, and ten times as many local +dialects. The Alps are not especially Swiss--I used to think they were +English--they belong equally to four nations of Europe; they are the +sanatorium and the diversorium of the civilized world, the refuge, the +asylum, the second home of men and women famous throughout the centuries +for arts, literature, thought, religion. The poet, the philosopher, +the dreamer, the patriot, the exile, the bereaved, the reformer, the +prophet, the hero--have all found in the Alps a haven of rest, a new +home where the wicked cease from troubling, where men need neither fear +nor suffer. The happy and the thoughtless, the thinker and the sick--are +alike at home here. The patriot exile inscribed on his house on Lake +Leman--"Every land is fatherland to the brave man." What he might have +written is--"This land is fatherland to all men." To young and old, +to strong and weak, to wise and foolish alike, the Alps are a second +fatherland. + + +INTERLAKEN AND THE JUNGFRAU[30] + +B.T. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +It is hard to find a prettier spot than Interlaken. Situated between two +lovely lakes, surrounded by wooded heights, and lying but a few miles +from the snowy Jungfrau, it is like a jewel richly set. From Lucerne +over the Brunig, from Meiringen over the Grimsel come the travelers, +passing on their way the Lake of Brienz, with the waterfall of the +Giessbach, on its southern side. + +From Berne over Lake Thun, from the Rhône Valley over the Gemmi or +through the Simmenthal come the tourists, seeing as they come the white +peaks of the Oberland. And Interlaken welcomes them all, and rests them +for their closer relations with the High Alps by trips to the region +of the Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, and Mürren, and the great mountain +plateaux looking down upon them. Interlaken is not a climbing center. +Consequently mountaineering is little in evidence, conversation about +ascents is seldom heard, and ice-axes, ropes, and nailed boots are seen +more often in shop windows than in the streets. + +Interlaken is not like some other Swiss towns. Berne, Geneva, Zurich, +and Lucerne are places possessing notable churches, museums, and +monuments of the past, having a social life of their own and being +distinguished in some special way, as centers of culture and education. +Interlaken, however, has little life apart from that made by the throngs +of visitors who gather here in the summer. There is little to see except +a group of old monastic buildings, and in Unterseen and elsewhere some +fine old carved chalets, but none of these receives much attention. + +The attraction, on what one may call the natural side, centers in the +softly beautiful panorama of woods and meadows, green hills and snow +peaks which opens to the eye, and on the social side in the busy little +promenade and park of the Höheweg, bordered with hotels, shops, and +gardens. Here is ever a changing picture in the height of the season, +in fact, quite kaleidoscopic as railways and steamboats at each end of +Interlaken send their passengers to mingle in the passing crowd. +All "sorts and conditions of men" are here, and representatives of +antagonistic nations meet in friendly intercourse. + +On the hotel terraces and in the little cafés and tea rooms, one hears +a babel of voices, every nation of Europe seeming to speak in its own +native tongue. Life goes easily. There is a gaiety in the little town +that is infectious. It is a sort of busy idleness. "To trip or not to +trip" is the question. If the affirmative, then a rush to the mountain +trains and comfortable cabs. If the negative, then a turning to the +shops, where pretty things worthy of Paris or London are seen side +by side with Swiss carvings and Swiss embroidery and many little +superficial souvenirs. As the contents of the shops are exhibited in the +windows, so the character of the visitors is shown by the crowds, and +the life of the place is seen in the constant ebb and flow of the people +on the Höheweg. + +Interlaken is undoubtedly a tourist center, for few trips to Switzerland +overlook or omit this delightful spot. Thousands come here, who never go +any nearer the High Alps. They are quite content to sit on the benches +of the Höheweg, listening to the music and enjoying the view. There is a +casino, most artistically planned, with plashing fountains, shady paths, +and wonderful flowerbeds. Here many persons pass the day, and, contrary +to what one might expect, it is quiet and restful, lounging in that +parklike garden. + +For, notwithstanding "the madding crowd," Interlaken is a little gem of +a mountain town, with an undertone of repose and nobility, as if the +spirit of the Alps asserted herself, reigning, as one might say, for +all not ruling. And always smiling at the people, as it were, is the +majestic Jungfrau, ever seeming close at hand, altho' eight miles +away.... + +The pleasures of this little Swiss resort are exhaustless. The wooded +hills of the Rugen give innumerable walks amid beautiful forests, with +all their wealth of pine and larch and hardwood, their moss-clad rocks +and waving ferns. In that pleasant shade hours may be passed close +to nature. The lakes not only offer delightful water trips, but also +charming excursions along the wooded shores, sometimes high above +the lakes, giving varying views of great beauty. While, ever as with +beckoning fingers, the great peaks, snow-capped or rock-summitted, call +one across the verdant meadows into the higher valleys of Kienthal, +Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwaid, and Kandersteg, to the terraced heights +above or up amid the great wild passes. + +Interlaken is, above all, a garden of green. Perhaps the unusual amount +of rain which falls to the lot of this valley accounts for its verdure. +In any event, park, woods, meadow, garden, even the mountain sides are +green, a vari-colored green, and interspersed with an abundance +of flowers. Nowhere is the eye offended by anything inartistic or +unpicturesque, but, on the contrary, the charm is so comprehensive that +the visitor looks from place to place, from this bit to that bit, and +ever sees new beauty. + +To complete all, to accentuate in the minds of some this impression of +green, is the majestic Jungfrau. Other views may be grander and more +magnificent, but no view of the Jungfrau can compare in loveliness to +that from Interlaken. A great white glistening mass, far up above green +meadows, green forests, and green mountains, rises this peak, a shining +summit of white. Fitly named the Virgin, the Jungfrau gives her +benediction to Interlaken, serenely smiling at the valley and at the +town lying so quietly at her feet--the Jungfrau crowned with snow, +Interlaken drest in green! + +In the golden glory of the sun, in the silver shimmer of the moon, the +Jungfrau beckons, the Jungfrau calls! "Come," she seems to say, "come +nearer! Come up to the heights! Come close to the running waters! +Come." And that invitation falls on no unwilling ears, but in to the +Grindelwald and to the Lauterbrunnen and up to Mürren go those who love +the majestic Jungfrau! What a wonderful trip this is! It may shatter +some ideals in being taken to such a height in a railway train, but even +against one's convictions as to the proper way of seeing a mountain, +when all has been said, the fact remains that this trip is wonderful +beyond words. There is a strangeness in taking a train which leaves a +garden of green in the early morning and in a few hours later, after +valley and pass and tunnel, puts one out on snow fields over 11,000 feet +above the sea, where are seen vast stretches of white, almost level with +the summit of the Jungfrau close at hand, and below, stretching for +miles, on the one side the great Aletsch Glacier, and on the other side +the green valleys enclosed by the everlasting hills! + +The route is by way of Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and the Scheidegg, and +after skirting the Eiger Glacier going by tunnel into the very bowels of +the mountain. At Eigerwand, Rotstock, and Eismeer are stations, great +galleries blasted out of the rock, with corridors leading to openings +from which one has marvelous views.[31] Eismeer looks directly upon the +huge sea of snow and ice, with immense masses of dazzling white so close +as to make one reel with awe and astonishment. In fact, this view is +really oppressive in its wild magnificence, so near and so grand is it. +The Jungfraujoch is different. One is out in the open, so to speak; +one walks over that vast plateau of snow over 11,000 feet high in the +glorious sunlight, above most of the nearer peaks and looking down at a +beautiful panorama. On one side of this plateau is the Jungfrau, on the +other the Mönch, either of which can be climbed from here in about three +hours. + +Yet the eye lingers longer in the direction of the Aletsch Glacier than +anywhere else, this frozen river running for miles and turning to the +right at the little green basin of water full of pieces of floating ice, +called the Marjelen Lake, or See, at the foot of the Eggishorn, which is +unique and lovely. Long ago it was formed in this corner of the glacier, +and its blue waters are really melted snow, over which float icebergs +shining in the sun. In such a position the lake underlaps the glacier +for quite a distance, forming a low vaulted cavern in the ice. Every now +and then one of these little bergs overbalances itself and turns over, +the upper side then being a deep blue, and the lower side, which was +formerly above, being a pure white. + +Again turning toward the green valleys, one with the eye of an artist, +who can perceive and differentiate varying shades of color, can not but +admit that the Bernese Oberland is "par excellence" first. Even south of +the Alps the verdure does not excel or even equal that to be seen here. +There is something incomparably lovely about the Oberland valleys. It +is indescribable, indefinable, for when one has exhausted the most +extravagant terms of description, he feels that he has failed to picture +the scene as he desired. Yet if one word should be chosen to convey the +impression which the Oberland makes, the word would be "color." For +whether one regards the snow summits as setting off the valleys, or the +green meadows as setting off the peaks, it matters not, for the secret +of their beauty lies in the richness and variety of the exquisite +coloring wherein many wonderful shades of green predominate. + + +THE ALTDORF OF WILLIAM TELL[32] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +Let it be said at once that, altho' the name of Altdorf is indissolubly +linked with that of William Tell, the place arouses an interest which +does not at all depend upon its associations with the famous archer. +From the very first it gives one the impression of possessing a distinct +personality, of ringing, as it were, to a note never heard before, and +thus challenging attention to its peculiarities. + +As you approach Altdorf from Flüelen, on the Lake of Lucerne, by the +long white road, the first houses you reach are large structures of the +conventional village type, plain, but evidently the homes of well-to-do +people, and some even adorned with family coats-of-arms. In fact, this +street is dedicated to the aristocracy, and formerly went by the name +of the Herrengasse, the "Lane of the Lords." Beyond these fashionable +houses is an open square, upon which faces a cosy inn--named, of course, +after William Tell; and off on one side the large parish church, built +in cheap baroco style, but containing a few objects of interest.... + +There is a good deal of sight-seeing to be done in Altdorf, for so small +a place. In the town hall are shown the tattered flags carried by the +warriors of Uri in the early battles of the Confederation, the mace and +sword of state which are borne by the beadles to the Landsgemeinde. In +a somewhat inaccessible corner, a few houses off, the beginnings of a +museum have been made. Here is another portrait of interest--that of the +giant Püntener, a mercenary whose valor made him the terror of the enemy +in the battle of Marignano, in 1515; so that when he was finally killed, +they avenged themselves, according to a writing beneath the picture, by +using his fat to smear their weapons, and by feeding their horses with +oats from his carcass. Just outside the village stands the arsenal, +whence, they say, old armor was taken and turned into shovels, when the +St. Gothard Railroad was building, so poor and ignorant were the people. + +If you are of the sterner sex, you can also penetrate into the Capuchin +Monastery, and enter the gardens, where the terraces that rise behind +the buildings are almost Italian in appearance, festooned with vines and +radiant with roses. Not that the fame of this institution rests on such +trivial matters, however. The brothers boast of two things: theirs is +the oldest branch of the order in Switzerland, dating from 1581, and +they carry on in it the somewhat unappetizing industry of cultivating +snails for the gourmands of foreign countries. Above the Capuchins is +the famous Bannwald, mentioned by Schiller--a tract of forest on the +mountain-slope, in which no one is allowed to fell trees, because it +protects the village from avalanches and rolling stones. + +Nothing could be fairer than the outskirts of Altdorf on a May morning. +The valley of the Reuss lies bathed from end to end in a flood of +golden light, shining through an atmosphere of crystal purity. Daisies, +cowslips, and buttercups, the flowers of rural well-being, show through +the rising grass of the fields; along the hedges and crumbling walls +of the lanes peep timid primroses and violets, and in wilder spots the +Alpine gentian, intensely blue. High up, upon the mountains, glows the +indescribable velvet of the slopes, while, higher still, ragged and +vanishing patches of snow proclaim the rapid approach of summer. + +After all, the best part of Altdorf, to make an Irish bull, lies outside +of the village. No adequate idea of this strange little community can +be given without referring to the Almend, or village common. Indeed, +as time goes on, one learns to regard this Almend as the complete +expression and final summing up of all that is best in Altdorf, the +reconciliation of all its inconsistencies. + +How fine that great pasture beside the River Reus, with its short, +juicy, Alpine grass, in sight of the snow-capped Bristenstock, at one +end of the valley, and of the waters of Lake Lucerne at the other! In +May, the full-grown cattle have already departed for the higher summer +pastures, leaving only the feeble young behind, who are to follow as +soon as they have grown strong enough to bear the fatigues of the +journey. At this time, therefore, the Almend becomes a sort of vision +of youth--of calves, lambs, and foals, guarded by little boys, all +gamboling in the exuberance of early life. + + +LUCERNE[33] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +A height crowned with embattled ramparts that bristle with loop-holed +turrets; church towers mingling their graceful spires and peaceful +crosses with those warlike edifices; dazzling white villas, planted like +tents under curtains of verdure; tall houses with old red skylights on +the roofs--this is our first glimpse of the Catholic and warlike city of +Lucerne. We seem to be approaching some town of old feudal times that +has been left solitary and forgotten on the mountain side, outside of +the current of modern life. + +But when we pass through the station we find ourselves suddenly +transported to the side of the lake, where whole flotillas of large and +small boats lie moored on the blue waters of a large harbor. And along +the banks of this wonderful lake is a whole town of hotels, gay with +many colored flags, their terraces and balconies rising tier above +tier, like the galleries of a grand theater whose scenery is the mighty +Alps.... + +In summer Lucerne is the Hyde Park of Switzerland. Its quays are +thronged by people of every nation. There you meet pale women from the +lands of snow, and dark women from the lands of the sun; tall, six-foot +English women, and lively, alert, trim Parisian women, with the light +and graceful carriage of a bird on the bough. At certain hours this +promenade on the quays is like a charity fair or a rustic ball--bright +colors and airy draperies everywhere. + +Nowhere can the least calm and repose be found but in the old town. +There the gabled houses, with wooden galleries hanging over the waters +of the Reuss, make a charming ancient picture, like a bit of Venice set +down amid the verdant landscape of the valley. + +I also discovered on the heights beyond the ramparts a pretty and +peaceful convent of Capuchins, the way to which winds among wild plants, +starry with flowers. It is delicious to go right away, far from the town +swarming and running over with Londoners, Germans, and Americans, and to +find yourself among fragrant hedges, peopled by warblers whom it has +not yet occurred to the hotel-keepers to teach to sing in English. This +sweet path leads without fatigue to the convent of the good fathers. + +In a garden flooded with sunshine and balmy with the fragrance of +mignonette and vervain, where broad sunflowers erect their black +discs fringed with gold, two brothers with fan-shaped beards, their +brass-mounted spectacles astride on their flat noses, and arrayed in +green gardening aprons, are plying enormous watering-cans; while, in +the green and cool half-twilight under the shadowy trees, big, rubicund +brothers walk up and down, reading their red-edged breviaries in black +leather bindings. + +Happy monks! Not a fraction of a pessimist among them! How well they +understand life! A beautiful convent, beautiful nature, good wine and +good cheer, neither disturbance nor care; neither wife nor children; and +when they leave the world, heaven specially created for them, seraphim +waiting for them with harps of gold, and angels with urns of rose-water +to wash their feet! + +Lucerne began as a nest of monks, hidden in an orchard like a nest of +sparrows. The first house of the town was a monastery, erected by the +side of the lake. The nest grew, became a village, then a town, then a +city. The monks of Murbach, to whom the monastery of St. Leger belonged, +had got into debt; this sometimes does happen even to monks. They +sold to King Rudolf all the property they possest at Lucerne and in +Unterwalden; and thus the town passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs. + +When the first Cantons, after expelling the Austrian bailiffs, had +declared their independence, Lucerne was still one of Austria's advanced +posts. But its people were daily brought into contact with the shepherds +of the Forest Cantons, who came into the town to supply themselves with +provisions; and they were not long in beginning to ask themselves if +there was any reason why they should not be, as well as their neighbors, +absolutely free. The position of the partizans of Austria soon became so +precarious that they found it safe to leave the town.... + +The opening of the St. Gothard Railway has given a new impulse to this +cosmopolitan city, which has a great future before it. Already it has +supplanted Interlaken in the estimation of the furbelowed, fashionable +world--the women who come to Switzerland not to see but to be seen. +Lucerne is now the chief summer station of the twenty-two Cantons. And +yet it does not possess many objects of interest. There is the old +bridge on the Reuss, with its ancient paintings; the Church of St. +Leger, with its lateral altars and its Campo Santo, reminding us +of Italian cemeteries; the museum at the Town Hall, with its fine +collection of stained glass; the blood-stained standards from the +Burgundian wars, and the flag in which noble old Gundolfingen, after +charging his fellow-citizens never to elect their magistrates for more +than a year, wrapt himself as in a shroud of glory to die in the fight; +finally, there is the Lion of Lucerne; and that is all. + +The most wonderful thing of all is that you are allowed to see this lion +for nothing; for close beside it you are charged a franc for permission +to cast an indifferent glance on some uninteresting excavations, which +date, it is said, from the glacial period. We do not care if they do.... + +The great quay of Lucerne is delightful; as good as the seashore at +Dieppe or Trouville. Before you, limpid and blue, lies the lake, which +from the character of its shores, at once stern and graceful, is the +finest in Switzerland. In front rises the snow-clad peaks of Uri, to the +left the Rigi, to the right the austere Pilatus, almost always wearing +his high cap of clouds. This beautiful walk on the quay, long and shady +like the avenue of a gentleman's park, is the daily resort, toward four +o'clock, of all the foreigners who are crowded in the hotels or packed +in the boarding-houses. Here are Russian and Polish counts with long +mustaches, and pins set with false brilliants; Englishmen with fishes' +or horses' heads; Englishwomen with the figures of angels or of +giraffes; Parisian women, daintily attired, sprightly, and coquettish; +American women, free in their bearing, and eccentric in their dress, and +their men as stiff as the smoke-pipes of steamboats; German women, with +languishing voices, drooping and pale like willow branches, fair-haired +and blue-eyed, talking in the same breath of Goethe and the price of +sausages, of the moon and their glass of beer, of stars and black +radishes. And here and there are a few little Swiss girls, fresh and +rosy as wood strawberries, smiling darlings like Dresden shepherdesses, +dreaming of scenes of platonic love in a great garden adorned with the +statue of William Tell or General Dufour. + + +ZURICH[34] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +If you arrive in Zurich after dark, and pass along the river-front, +you will think yourself for a moment in Venice. The street lamps glow +responsively across the dark Limmat, or trail their light from the +bridges. In the uncertain darkness, the bare house walls of the farther +side put on the dignity of palaces. There are unsuspected architectural +glories in the Wasserkirche and the Rathhaus, as they stand partly in +the water of the river. And if, at such times, one of the long, narrow +barges of the place passes up stream, the illusion is complete; for, as +the boat cuts at intervals through the glare of gaslight it looks for +all the world like a gondola.... + +Zurich need not rely upon any fancied resemblance of this sort for a +distinct charm of its own. The situation of the city is essentially +beautiful, reminding one, in a general way, of that of Geneva, Lucerne, +or Thun--at the outlet of a lake, and at the point of issue of a +swift river. Approaching from the lakeside, the twin towers of the +Grossmünster loom upon the right, capped by ugly rounded tops, like +miters; upon the left, the simple spires of the Fraumünster and St. +Peter's. A conglomeration of roofs denotes the city houses. On the +water-front, extensive promenades stretch, crescent shaped, from end +to end, cleverly laid out, tho' as yet too new to quite fulfil their +mission of beauty. Some large white buildings form the front line on +the lake--notably the theater, and a few hotels and apartment houses. +Finally, there where the River Limmat leaves the lake, a vista of +bridges open into the heart of the city--a succession of arches and +lines that invite inspection. + +Like most progressive cities of Europe, Zurich has outgrown its feudal +accouterments within the last fifty years. It has razed its walls, +converted its bastions into playgrounds, and, pushing out on every side, +has incorporated many neighboring villages, until to-day it contains +more than ninety thousand inhabitants.[35] The pride of modern Zurich is +the Bahnhof-strasse, a long street which leads from the railroad station +to the lake. It is planted with trees, and counts as the one and only +boulevard of the city. Unfortunately, a good view of the distant snow +mountains is very rare from the lake promenade, altho' they appear with +distinctness upon the photographs sold in the shops. + +Early every Saturday the peasant women come trooping in, with their +vegetables, fruits, and flowers, to line the Bahnhof-strasse with carts +and baskets. The ladies and kitchen-maids of the city come to buy; but +by noon the market is over. In a jiffy, the street is swept as clean as +a kitchen floor, and the women have turned their backs on Zurich. But +the real center of attraction in Zurich will be found by the traveler in +that quarter where stands the Grossmünster, the church of which Zwingli +was incumbent for twelve years. + +It may well be called the Wittenberg church of Switzerland. The present +building dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries; but tradition +has it that the first minster was founded by Charlemagne. That +ubiquitous emperor certainly manifested great interest in Zurich. He +has been represented no less than three times in various parts of the +building. About midway up one of the towers, his statue appears in +a niche, where pigeons strut and prink their feathers, undisturbed. +Charlemagne is sitting with a mighty two-edged sword upon his knees, and +a gilded crown upon his head; but the figure is badly proportioned, and +the statue is a good-natured, stumpy affair, that makes one smile rather +than admire. The outside of the minster still shows traces of the image +breakers of Zwingli's time, and yet the crumbling north portal remains +beautiful, even in decay. As for the interior, it has an exceedingly +bare and stript appearance; for, altho' there is good, solid stonework +in the walls, the whole has been washed a foolish, Philistine white. The +Romanesque of the architectural is said to be of particular interest to +connoisseurs, and the queer archaic capitals must certainly attract the +notice even of ordinary tourists.... + +It is also worth while to go to the Helmhaus, and examine the collection +of lake-dwelling remains. In fact, there is a delightful little model of +a lake-dwelling itself, and an appliance to show you how those primitive +people could make holes in their stone implements, before they knew the +use of metals. The ancient guild houses of Zurich are worth a special +study. Take, for instance, that of the "Zimmerleute," or carpenter with +its supporting arches and little peaked tower; or the so-called "Waag," +with frescoed front; then the great wainscoated and paneled hall of the +"schmieden" (smiths); and the rich Renaissance stonework of the "Maurer" +(masons). These buildings, alas, with the decay of the system which +produced them, have been obliged to put up big signs of Café Restaurant +upon their historic façades, like so many vulgar, modern eating-houses. + +The Rathhaus, or Town Hall, too, is charming. It stands, like the +Wasserkirche, with one side in the water and the other against the quay. +The style is a sort of reposeful Italian Renaissance, that is florid +only in the best artistic sense. Nor must you miss the so-called +"Rüden," nearby, for its sloping roof and painted walls give it a very +captivating look of alert picturesqueness, and it contains a large +collection of Pestalozzi souvenirs. + +Zurich has more than one claim to the world's recognition; but no +department of its active life, perhaps, merits such unstinted praise as +its educational facilities. First and foremost, the University, with +four faculties, modeled upon the German system, but retaining certain +distinctive traits that are essentially Swiss--for instance, the broad +and liberal treatment accorded to women students, who are admitted as +freely as men, and receive the same instruction. A great number of +Russian girls are always to be seen in Zurich, as at other Swiss +universities, working unremittingly to acquire the degrees which +they are denied at home. Not a few American women also have availed +themselves of these facilities, especially for the study of medicine.... + +Zurich is, at the present time, undoubtedly the most important +commercial city in Switzerland, having distanced both Basel and Geneva +in this direction. The manufacturing of silk, woolen, and linen fabrics +has flourished here since the end of the thirteenth century. In modern +times, however, cotton and machinery have been added as staple articles +of manufacture. Much of the actual weaving is still done in outlying +parts of the Canton, in the very cottages of the peasants, so that +the click of the loom is heard from open windows in every village and +hamlet. + +But modern industrial processes are tending continually to drive the +weavers from their homes into great centralized factories, and every +year this inevitable change becomes more apparent. It is certainly +remarkable that Zurich should succeed in turning out cheap and good +machinery, when we remember that every ton of coal and iron has to be +imported, since Switzerland possesses not a single mine, either of the +one or the other. + + +THE RIGI[36] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +If you really want to know how the Swiss Confederation came to be, you +can not do better than take the train to the top of the Rigi. You might +stumble through many a volume, and not learn so thoroughly the essential +causes of this national birth. + +Of course, the eye rests first upon the phalanx of snow-crests to the +south, then down upon the lake, lying outstretched like some wriggling +monster, switching its tail, and finally off to the many places where +early Swiss history was made. In point of fact, you are looking at quite +a large slice of Switzerland. Victor Hugo seized the meaning of this +view when he wrote: "It is a serious hour, and full of meditations, when +one has Switzerland thus under the eyes." ... + +The physical features of a country have their counterparts in its +political institutions. In Switzerland the great mountain ranges divide +the territory into deep valleys, each of which naturally forms a +political unit--the Commune. Here is a miniature world, concentrated +into a small space, and representing the sum total of life to its +inhabitants. Self-government becomes second nature under these +conditions. A sort of patriarchal democracy is evolved: that is, certain +men and certain families are apt to maintain themselves at the head +of public affairs, but with the consent and cooperation of the whole +population. + +There is hardly a spot associated with the rise of the Swiss +Confederation whose position can not be determined from the Rigi. The +two Tell's chapels; the Rütli; the villages of Schwiz, Altdorf, Brunnen, +Beckenried, Stans, and Sarnen; the battlefields of Morgarten and +Sempach; and on a clear day the ruined castle of Hapsburg itself, lie +within a mighty circle at one's feet. + +It was preordained that the three lands of Uri, Schwiz, and Unterwalden +should unite for protection of common interests against the encroachment +of a common enemy--the ambitious house of Hapsburg. The lake formed at +once a bond and a highway between them. On the first day of August, +1291, more than six hundred years ago, a group of unpretentious +patriots, ignored by the great world, signed a document which formed +these lands into a loose Confederation. By this act they laid the +foundation upon which the Swiss state was afterward reared. In their +naïve, but prophetic, faith, the contracting parties called this +agreement a perpetual pact; and they set forth, in the Latin, legal +phraseology of the day, that, seeing the malice of the times, they found +it necessary to take an oath to defend one another against outsiders, +and to keep order within their boundaries; at the same time carefully +stating that the object of the league was to maintain lawfully +established conditions. + +From small beginnings, the Confederation of Uri, Schwiz, and Unterwalden +grew, by the addition of other communities, until it reached its present +proportions, of twenty-two Cantons, in 1815. Lucerne was the first to +join; then came Zurich, Glarus, Zug, Bern, etc. The early Swiss did not +set up a sovereign republic, in our acceptation of the word, either in +internal or external policy. The class distinctions of the feudal age +continued to exist; and they by no means disputed the supreme rule of +the head of the German Empire over them, but rather gloried in the +protection which this direct dependence afforded them against a +multitude of intermediate, preying nobles. + + +CHAMOUNI--AN AVALANCHE[37] + +BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY + +From Servoz three leagues remain to Chamouni--Mont Blanc was before +us--the Alps, with their innumerable glaciers on high all around, +closing in the complicated windings of the single vale--forests +inexpressibly beautiful, but majestic in their beauty--intermingled +beech and pine, and oak, overshadowed our road, or receded, while lawns +of such verdure as I have never seen before occupied these openings, and +gradually became darker in their recesses. Mont Blanc was before us, but +it was covered with cloud; its base, furrowed with dreadful gaps, was +seen above. Pinnacles of snow intolerably bright, part of the chain +connected with Mont Blanc, shone through the clouds at intervals on +high. I never knew--I never imagined--what mountains were before. + +The immensity of these aerial summits excited, when they suddenly burst +upon the sight, a sentiment of ecstatic wonder, not unallied to madness. +And, remember, this was all one scene, it all prest home to our regard +and our imagination. Tho' it embraced a vast extent of space, the snowy +pyramids which shot into the bright blue sky seemed to overhang our +path; the ravine, clothed with gigantic pines, and black with its depth +below, so deep that the very roaring of the untameable Arve, which +rolled through it, could not be heard above--all was as much our own, as +if we had been the creators of such impressions in the minds of others +as now occupied our own. Nature was the poet, whose harmony held our +spirits more breathless than that of the divinest. + +As we entered the valley of the Chamouni (which, in fact, may be +considered as a continuation of those which we have followed from +Bonneville and Cluses), clouds hung upon the mountains at the distance +perhaps of 6,000 feet from the earth, but so as effectually to conceal +not only Mont Blanc, but the other "aiguilles," as they call them here, +attached and subordinate to it. We were traveling along the valley, when +suddenly we heard a sound as the burst of smothered thunder rolling +above; yet there was something in the sound that told us it could not +be thunder. Our guide hastily pointed out to us a part of the mountain +opposite, from whence the sound came. It was an avalanche. We saw the +smoke of its path among the rocks, and continued to hear at intervals +the bursting of its fall. It fell on the bed of a torrent, which it +displaced, and presently we saw its tawny-colored waters also spread +themselves over the ravine, which was their couch. + +We did not, as we intended, visit the Glacier des Bossons to-day, altho +it descends within a few minutes' walk of the road, wishing to survey it +at least when unfatigued. We saw this glacier, which comes close to the +fertile plain, as we passed. Its surface was broken into a thousand +unaccountable figures; conical and pyramidical crystallizations, more +than fifty feet in height, rise from its surface, and precipices of ice, +of dazzling splendor, overhang the woods and meadows of the vale. This +glacier winds upward from the valley, until it joins the masses of frost +from which it was produced above, winding through its own ravine like a +bright belt flung over the black region of pines. + +There is more in all these scenes than mere magnitude of proportion; +there is a majesty of outline; there is an awful grace in the very +colors which invest these wonderful shapes--a charm which is peculiar +to them, quite distinct even from the reality of their unutterable +greatness. + + +ZERMATT[38] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +Those who would reach the very heart of the Alps and look upon a scene +of unparalleled grandeur must go into the Valais to Zermatt. + +[Illustration: PONTRESINA IN THE ENGADINE] + +[Illustration: ST. MORITZ IN THE ENGADINE] + +[Illustration: FRIBOURG] + +[Illustration: BERNE] + +[Illustration: VIVEY ON LAKE GENEVA] + +[Illustration: THE TURNHALLE IN ZURICH Courtesy Swiss Federal Railway] + +[Illustration: INTERLAKEN] + +[Illustration: LUCERNE] + +[Illustration: VIADUCTS On the new Lötschberg route to the Simplon +tunnel] + +[Illustration: WOLFORT VIADUCT On the Pilatus Railroad, Switzerland] + +[Illustration: THE BALMAT-SAUSSURE MONUMENT IN CHAMONIX (Mont Blanc in +the distance)] + +[Illustration: ROOFED WOODEN BRIDGE AT LUCERNE] + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF CHILLON] + +[Illustration: CLOUD EFFECT ABOVE INTERLAKEN Courtesy Swiss Federal +Railway] + +[Illustration: DAVOS IN WINTER] + +The way up the valley is that which follows the River Visp. It is a +delightful journey. The little stream is never still. It will scarcely +keep confined to the banks or within the stone walls which in many +places protect the shores. The river dances along as if seeking to be +free. For the most part it is a torrent, sweeping swiftly past the +solid masonry and descending the steep bed in a series of wild leaps or +artificial waterfalls, with wonderful effects of sunlight seen in the +showers of spray. Fed as it is by many mountain streams, the Visp is +always full, and the more so, when in summer the melting ice adds to its +volume. + +Then it is a sight long remembered, as roaring, rollicking, rushing +along it is a brawling mass of waters, often working havoc with banks, +road, village, and pastures. If one never saw a mountain, the sight of +the Visp would more than repay, but, as it is, one's attention is taxed +to the uttermost not to miss anything of this little rushing river and +at the same time get the charming views of the Weisshorn, the Breithorn, +and the other snow summits which appear over the mountain spurs +surrounding the head of the valley. + +The first impression on reaching the Zermatt is one of disappointment. +Maps and pictures generally lead the traveler to think that from the +village he will see the great semicircle of snow peaks which surround +the valley, but upon arrival he finds that he must go further up to see +them, for all of them are hidden from view except the Matterhorn. + +This mountain, however, is seen in all its grandeur, fierce and +frowning, and to an imaginative mind bending forward as if threatening +and trying to shake off the little snow that appears here and there on +its side. It dominates the whole scene and leaves an indelible impress +on the mind, so that one can never picture Zermatt without the +Matterhorn. + +Zermatt as a place is a curious combination; a line of hotels in +juxtaposition with a village of chalets, unsophisticated peasants +shoulder to shoulder with people of fashion! There are funny little +shops, here showing only such simple things as are needed by the +dwellers in the Valais, there exhibiting really beautiful articles in +dress and jewelry to attract the summer visitors, while at convenient +spots are the inevitable tea-rooms, where "Thé, Café, Limonade, +Confiserie" minister to the coming crowds of an afternoon.... + +Guides galore wait in front of all the large hotels; ice-axes, ropes, +nailed boots, rucksacks, and all the paraphernalia of the mountains +are seen on every side, and a walk along the one main thoroughfare +introduces one into the life of a climbing center, interesting to a +degree and often very amusing from the miscellaneous collection of +people there. + +Perhaps the first thing one cares to see at Zermatt is the village +church, with the adjoining churchyard. The church, dedicated to Saint +Maurice, a favorite saint in the Valais and Rhône district, is plain +but interesting and in parts is quite old. Near it is a little mortuary +chapel. In most parts of Switzerland, it is the custom, after the bodies +of the dead have been buried a certain length of time, to remove the +remains to the "charnel house," allowing the graves to be used again +and thus not encroaching upon the space reserved and consecrated in the +churchyard, but we do not think this custom obtains at Zermatt. + +In the churchyard is a monument to Michel Auguste Croz, the guide, and +near by are the graves of the Reverend Charles Hudson and Mr. Hadow. +These three, with Lord Francis Douglas were killed in Mr. Whymper's +first ascent of the Matterhorn.[39] The body of Lord Francis Douglas +has never been found. It is probably deep in some crevasse or under the +snows which surround the base of the Matterhorn.... + +For the more extended climbs or for excursions in the direction of the +Schwarzsee, the Staffel Alp or the Trift, Zermatt is the starting point. +The place abounds in walks, most of them being the first part of the +routes to the high mountains, so that those who are fond of tramping but +not of climbing can reach high elevations with a little hard work, but +no great difficulty. Some of these "midway" places may be visited on +muleback, and with the railway now up to the Gorner-Grat there are few +persons who may not see this wonderful region of snow peaks. + +The trip to the Schwarzsee is the first stage on the Matterhorn route. +It leads through the village, past the Gorner Gorges (which one may +visit by a slight détour) and then enters some very pretty woods, from +which one issues on to the bare green meadows which clothe the upper +part of the steep slope of the mountain. As one mounts this zigzag path, +it sometimes seems as if it would never end, and for all the magnificent +views which it affords, one is always glad that it is over, as it +exactly fulfils the conditions of a "grind." + +From the Schwarzsee (8,495 feet, where there is an excellent hotel), +there is a fine survey of the Matterhorn, and also a splendid panorama, +on three sides, one view up the glaciers toward the Monte Rosa, another +over the valley to the Dent Blanche and other great peaks, and still +another to the far distant Bernese Oberland. Near the hotel is a little +lake and a tiny chapel, where mass is sometimes said. The reflection in +the still waters of the lake is very lovely. + +From the Schwarzsee, trips are made to the Hörnli (another stage on the +way to the Matterhorn), to the Gandegg Hut, across moraine and glacier +and to the Staffel Alp, over the green meadows. The Hörnli (9,490 feet +high) is the ridge running out from the Matterhorn. It is reached by a +stiff climb over rocks and a huge heap of fallen stones and debris. From +it the view is similar to that from the Schwarzsee, but much finer, the +Théodule Glacier being seen to great advantage. Above the Hörnli towers +the Matterhorn, huge, fierce, frowning, threatening. Every few moments +comes a heavy, muffled sound, as new showers of falling stones come +down. This is one of the main dangers in climbing the peak itself, for +from base to summit, the Matterhorn is really a decaying mountain, the +stones rolling away through the action of the storms, the frosts, and +the sun. + + +PONTRÉSINA AND ST. MORITZ[40] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +The night was falling fine as dust, as a black sifted snow-shower, a +snow made of shadow; and the melancholy of the landscape, the grand +nocturnal solitude of these lofty, unknown regions, had a charm profound +and disquieting. I do not know why I fancied myself no longer in +Switzerland, but in some country near the pole, in Sweden or Norway. At +the foot of these bare mountains I looked for wild fjords, lit up by the +moon. + +Nothing can express the profound somberness of these landscapes at +nightfall; the long desert road, gray from the reflections of the starry +sky, unrolls in an interminable ribbon along the depth of the valley; +the treeless mountains, hollowed out like ancient craters, lift their +overhanging precipices; lakes sleeping in the midst of the pastures, +behind curtains of pines and larches, glitter like drops of quicksilver; +and on the horizon the immense glaciers crowd together and overflow like +sheets of foam on a frozen sea. + +The road ascends. From the distance comes a dull noise, the roaring of a +torrent. We cross a little cluster of trees, and on issuing from it the +superb amphitheater of glaciers shows itself anew, overlooked by one +white point glittering like an opal. On the hill a thousand little +lights show me that I am at last at Pontrésina. I thought I should +never have arrived there; nowhere does night deceive more than in the +mountains; in proportion as you advance toward a point, it seems to +retreat from you. + +Soon the black fantastic lines of the houses show through the darkness. +I enter a narrow street, formed of great gloomy buildings, their fronts +like a convent or prison. The hamlet is transformed into a little town +of hotels, very comfortable, very elegant, very dear, but very stupid +and very vulgar, with their laced porter in an admiral's hat, and their +whiskered waiters, who have the air of Anglican ministers. Oh! how I +detest them, and flee them, those hotels where the painter, or the +tourist who arrives on foot, knapsack on his back and staff in hand, his +trousers tucked into his leggings, his flask slung over his shoulder, +and his hat awry, is received with less courtesy than a lackey. + +Besides those hotels, some of which are veritable palaces, and where the +ladies are almost bound to change their dress three times a day, there +is a hotel of the second and third class; and there is the old inn; the +comfortable, hospitable, patriarchal inn, with its Gothic signboard.... + +On leaving the village I was again in the open mountain. In the distance +the road penetrated into the valley, rising always. The moon had risen. +She stood out sharply cut in a cloudless sky, and stars sparkling +everywhere in profusion; not like nails of gold, but sown broadcast like +a flying dust, a dust of carbuncles and diamonds. To the right, in the +depths of the amphitheater of the mountains, an immense glacier looked +like a frozen cascade; and above, a perfectly white peak rose draped in +snow, like some legendary king in his mantle of silver. + +Bending under my knapsack, and dragging my feet, I arrive at last at the +hotel, where I am received, in the kindest manner in the world, by the +two mistresses of the establishment, two sisters of open, benevolent +countenance and of sweet expression. + +And the poor little traveler who arrives, his bag on his back and +without bustle, who has sent neither letter nor telegram to announce his +arrival, is the object of the kindest and most delicate attentions; his +clothes are brushed, he gets water for his refreshment, and is then +conducted to a table bountifully spread, in a dining-room fragrant with +good cookery and bouquets of flowers.... + +Beyond Campfer, its houses surrounding a third little lake, we come +suddenly on a scene of extraordinary animation. All the cosmopolitan +society of St. Moritz is there, sauntering, walking, running, in +mountain parties, on afternoon excursions. The favorite one is the walk +to the pretty lake of Campfer, with its shady margin, its resting places +hidden among the branches, its châlet-restaurant, from the terrace of +which one overlooks the whole valley; and it would be difficult to find +near St. Moritz a more interesting spot. + +We meet at every step parties of English ladies, looking like +plantations of umbrellas with their covers on and surmounted by immense +straw hats; then there are German ladies, massive as citadels, but +not impregnable, asking nothing better than to surrender to the young +exquisites, with the figure of cuirassiers, who accompany them; further +on, lively Italian ladies parade themselves in dresses of the carnival, +the colors outrageously striking and dazzling to the eyes; with +up-turned skirts they cross the Inn on great mossy stones, leaping +with the grace of birds, and smiling, to show, into the bargain, the +whiteness of their teeth. All this crowd passing in procession before us +is composed of men and women of every age and condition; some with the +grave face of a waxen saint, others beaming with the satisfied smile of +rich people; there are also invalids, who go along hobbling and limping, +or who are drawn, in little carriages. + +Soon handsome façades, pierced with hundreds of windows, show themselves +in the grand and severe setting of mountains and glaciers. It is St. +Moritz-les-Bains. Here every house is a hotel, and, as every hotel is +a little palace, we do not alight from the diligence; we go a little +farther and a little higher, to St. Moritz-le-Village, which has a much +more beautiful situation. It is at the top of a little hill, whose sides +slope down to a pretty lake, fresh and green as a lawn. The eye reaches +beyond Sils, the whole length of the valley, with its mountains like +embattled ramparts, its lakes like a great row of pearls, and its +glaciers showing their piles of snowy white against the azure depths of +the horizon. + +St. Moritz is the center of the valley of the Upper Engadine, which +extends to the length of eighteen or nineteen leagues, and which +scarcely possesses a thousand inhabitants. Almost all the men emigrate +to work for strangers, like their brothers, the mountaineers of Savoy +and Auvergne, and do not return till they have amassed a sufficient +fortune to allow them to build a little white house, with gilded +window frames, and to die quietly in the spot where they were born.... +Historians tell us that the first inhabitants of the Upper Engadine were +Etruscans and Latins chased from Italy by the Gauls and Carthaginians, +and taking refuge in these hidden altitudes. After the fall of the +Empire, the inhabitants of the Engadine fell under the dominion of the +Franks and Lombards, then the Dukes of Swabia; but the blood never +mingled--the type remained Italian; black hair, the quick eye, the +mobile countenance, the expressive features, and the supple figure. + + +GENEVA[41] + +BY FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE + +Straddling the Rhone, where it issues from the bluest lake in the world, +looking out upon green meadows and wooded hills, backed by the dark +ridge of the Salève, with the "great white mountain" visible in the +distance, Geneva has the advantage of an incomparable site; and it +is, from a town surveyor's point of view, well built. It has wide +thoroughfares, quays, and bridges; gorgeous public monuments and +well-kept public gardens; handsome theaters and museums; long rows +of palatial hotels; flourishing suburbs; two railway-stations, and a +casino. But all this is merely the façade--all of it quite modern; +hardly any of it more than half a century old. The real historical +Geneva--the little of it that remains--is hidden away in the background, +where not every tourist troubles to look for it. It is disappearing +fast. Italian stonemasons are constantly engaged in driving lines +through it. They have rebuilt, for instance, the old Corraterie, which +is now the Regent Street of Geneva, famous for its confectioners' and +booksellers' shops; they have destroyed, and are still destroying, other +ancient slums, setting up white buildings of uniform ugliness in place +of the picturesque but insanitary dwellings of the past. It is, no +doubt, a very necessary reform, tho' one may think that it is being +executed in too utilitarian a spirit. The old Geneva was malodorous, and +its death-rate was high. They had more than one Great Plague there, and +their Great Fires have always left some of the worst of their slums +untouched. These could not be allowed to stand in an age which studies +the science and practises the art of hygiene. Yet the traveler who wants +to know what the old Geneva was really like must spend a morning or two +rambling among them before they are pulled down. + +The old Geneva, like Jerusalem, was set upon a hill, and it is toward +the top of the hill that the few buildings of historical interest are to +be found. There is the cathedral--a striking object from a distance, tho' +the interior is hideously bare. There is the Town Hall, in which, for +the convenience of notables carried in litters, the upper stories were +reached by an inclined plane instead of a staircase. There is Calvin's +old Academy, bearing more than a slight resemblance to certain of the +smaller colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. There, too, are to be seen a +few mural tablets, indicating the residences of past celebrities. In +such a house Rousseau was born; in such another house or in an older +house, now demolished, on the same site--Calvin died. And toward these +central points the steep and narrow, mean streets--in many cases streets +of stairs--converge. + +As one plunges into these streets one seems to pass back from the +twentieth century to the fifteenth, and need not exercise one's +imagination very severely in order to picture the town as it appeared +in the old days before the Reformation. The present writer may claim +permission to borrow his own description from the pages of "Lake Geneva +and its Literary Landmarks:" + +"Narrow streets predominated, tho' there were also a certain number of +open spaces--notably at the markets, and in front of the Cathedral, +where there was a traffic in those relics and rosaries which Geneva was +presently to repudiate with virtuous indignation. One can form an idea +of the appearance of the narrow streets by imagining the oldest houses +that one has seen in Switzerland all closely packed together--houses at +the most three stories high, with gabled roofs, ground-floors a step or +two below the level of the roadway, and huge arched doors studded with +great iron nails, and looking strong enough to resist a battering-ram. +Above the doors, in the case of the better houses, were the painted +escutcheons of the residents, and crests were also often blazoned on the +window-panes. The shops, too, and more especially the inns, flaunted +gaudy signboards with ingenious devices. The Good Vinegar, the Hot +Knife, the Crowned Ox, were the names of some of these; their tariff is +said to have been fivepence a day for man and beast.".... + +In the first half of the sixteenth century occurred the two events +which shaped the future of Geneva; Reformation theology was accepted; +political independence was achieved. Geneva it should be explained, was +the fief of the duchy of Savoy; or so, at all events, the Dukes of Savoy +maintained, tho' the citizens were of the contrary opinion. Their view +was that they owed allegiance only to their Bishops, who were the +Viceroys of the Holy Roman Emperor; and even that allegiance was limited +by the terms of a Charter granted in the Holy Roman Emperor's name by +Bishop Adhémar de Fabri. All went fairly well until the Bishops began +to play into the hands of the Dukes; but then there was friction, +which rapidly became acute. A revolutionary party--the Eidgenossen, or +Confederates--was formed. There was a Declaration of Independence and a +civil war. + +So long as the Genevans stood alone, the Duke was too strong for them. +He marched into the town in the style of a conqueror, and wreaked his +vengeance on as many of his enemies as he could catch. He cut off the +head of Philibert Berthelier, to whom there stands a memorial on the +island in the Rhone; he caused Jean Pecolat to be hung up in an absurd +posture in his banqueting-hall, in order that he might mock at his +discomfort while he dined; he executed, with or without preliminary +torture, several less conspicuous patriots. Happily, however, some of +the patriots--notably Besançon Hugues--got safely away, and succeeded in +concluding treaties of alliance between Geneva and the cantons of Berne +and Fribourg. + +The men of Fribourg marched to Geneva, and the Duke retired. The +citizens passed a resolution that he should never be allowed to enter +the town again, seeing that he "never came there without playing the +citizens some dirty trick or other;" and, the more effectually to +prevent him from coming, they pulled down their suburbs and repaired +their ramparts, one member of every household being required to lend a +hand for the purpose. + +Presently, owing to religious dissensions, Fribourg withdrew from the +alliance. Berne, however, adhered to it, and, in due course, responded +to the appeal for help by setting an army of seven thousand men in +motion. The route of the seven thousand lay through the canton of Vaud, +then a portion of the Duke's dominions, governed from the Castle of +Chillon. Meeting with no resistance save at Yverdon, they annexed the +territory, placing governors of their own in its various strongholds. +The Governor of Chillon fled, leaving his garrison to surrender; and in +its deepest dungeon was found the famous prisoner of Chillon, François +de Bonivard. From that time forward Geneva was a free republic, owing +allegiance to no higher power. + + +THE CASTLE OF CHILLON[42] + +BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE + +Here I am, sitting at my window, overlooking Lake Leman. Castle Chillon, +with its old conical towers, is silently pictured in the still waters. +It has been a day of a thousand. We took a boat, with two oarsmen, and +passed leisurely along the shores, under the cool, drooping branches of +trees, to the castle, which is scarce a stone's throw from the hotel. We +rowed along, close under the walls, to the ancient moat and drawbridge. +There I picked a bunch of blue bells, "les clochettes," which were +hanging their aerial pendants from every crevice--some blue, some +white.... + +We rowed along, almost touching the castle rock, where the wall ascends +perpendicularly, and the water is said to be a thousand feet deep. We +passed the loopholes that illuminate the dungeon vaults, and an old +arch, now walled up, where prisoners, after having been strangled, were +thrown into the lake. + +Last evening we walked through the castle. An interesting Swiss woman, +who has taught herself English for the benefit of her visitors, was our +"cicerone." She seemed to have all the old Swiss vivacity of attachment +for "liberté et patrie." She took us first into the dungeon, with the +seven pillars, described by Byron. There was the pillar to which, for +protecting the liberty of Geneva, Bonivard was chained. There the Duke +of Savoy kept him for six years, confined by a chain four feet long. He +could take only three steps, and the stone floor is deeply worn by the +prints of those weary steps. Six years is so easily said; but to live +them, alone, helpless, a man burning with all the fires of manhood, +chained to that pillar of stone, and those three unvarying steps! Two +thousand one hundred and ninety days rose and set the sun, while seed +time and harvest, winter and summer, and the whole living world went +on over his grave. For him no sun, no moon, no stars, no business, no +friendship, no plans--nothing! The great millstone of life emptily +grinding itself away! + +What a power of vitality was there in Bonivard, that he did not sink in +lethargy, and forget himself to stone! But he did not; it is said that +when the victorious Swiss army broke in to liberate him, they cried, + +"Bonivard, you are free!" + +"And Geneva?" + +"Geneva is free also!" + +You ought to have heard the enthusiasm with which our guide told this +story! + +Near by are the relics of the cell of a companion of Bonivard, who made +an ineffectual attempt to liberate him. On the wall are still seen +sketches of saints and inscriptions by his hand. This man one day +overcame his jailer, locked him in his cell, ran into the hall above, +and threw himself from a window into the lake, struck a rock, and was +killed instantly. One of the pillars in this vault is covered with +names. I think it is Bonivard's pillar. There are the names of Byron, +Hunt, Schiller, and many other celebrities. + +After we left the dungeons we went up into the judgment hall, where +prisoners were tried, and then into the torture chamber. Here are the +pulleys by which limbs are broken; the beam, all scorched with the irons +by which feet were burned; the oven where the irons were heated; and +there was the stone where they were sometimes laid to be strangled, +after the torture. On that stone, our guide told us, two thousand Jews, +men, women, and children, had been put to death. There was also, high +up, a strong beam across, where criminals were hung; and a door, now +walled up, by which they were thrown into the lake. I shivered. +"'Twas cruel," she said; "'twas almost as cruel as your slavery in +America."[43] + +Then she took us into a tower where was the "oubliette." Here the +unfortunate prisoner was made to kneel before an image of the Virgin, +while the treacherous floor, falling beneath him, precipitated him into +a well forty feet deep, where he was left to die of broken limbs and +starvation. Below this well was still another pit, filled with knives, +into which, when they were disposed to a merciful hastening of the +torture, they let him fall. The woman has been herself to the bottom of +the first dungeon, and found there bones of victims. The second pit is +now walled up.... + +To-night, after sunset, we rowed to Byron's "little isle," the only one +in the lake. O, the unutterable beauty of these mountains--great, purple +waves, as if they had been dashed up by a mighty tempest, crested +with snow-like foam! this purple sky, and crescent moon, and the lake +gleaming and shimmering, and twinkling stars, while far off up the sides +of a snow-topped mountain a light shines like a star--some mountaineer's +candle, I suppose. + +In the dark stillness we rode again over to Chillon, and paused under +its walls. The frogs were croaking in the moat, and we lay rocking on +the wave, and watching the dusky outlines of the towers and turrets. +Then the spirit of the scene seemed to wrap me round like a cloak. Back +to Geneva again. This lovely place will ever leave its image on my +heart. Mountains embrace it. + + +BY RAIL UP THE GORNER-GRAT[44] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +To see the splendid array of snow peaks and glaciers which makes the sky +line above Zermatt, one must leave the valley and walk or climb to a +higher level. An ideal spot for this is the Hôtel Riffel Alp. Both the +situation and the Hôtel outrival and surpass any similar places in the +Alps. "Far from the madding crowd," on a little plateau bounded by pines +and pastures stands the Hôtel, some two thousand feet above Zermatt +and at an altitude of over 7,000 feet. The outlook is superb, the air +splendid, the quiet most restful. Two little churches, the one for Roman +Catholics, the other for members of the Church of England minister to +the spiritual needs of the visitors and stamp religion upon a situation +grand and sublime. + +Those who come here are lovers of the mountains who enjoy the open life. +It is a place not so much for "les grands excursions" as for long walks, +easy climbs and the beginnings of mountaineering. Many persons spend the +entire day out, preferring to eat their déjeuner "informally," perched +above some safe precipice, or on a glacier-bordered rock or in the shade +of the cool woods, but there are always some who linger both morning and +afternoon on the terrace with its far expanse of view, with the bright +sunshine streaming down upon them. + +One great charm of the Riffel Alp is the proximity to the snow. An hour +will bring one either to the Gorner Glacier or to the Findelen Glacier, +while a somewhat longer time will lead to other stretches of snow and +ice, where the climber may sit and survey the séracs and crevasses or +walk about on the great frozen rivers. This is said to be beneficial to +the nervous system as many physicians maintain that the glaciers contain +a large amount of radium. + +Before essaying any of the longer or harder trips however, the traveler +first of all generally goes to the Gorner-Grat, the rocky ridge that +runs up from Zermatt to a point 10,290 feet high. Many people still walk +up, but since the railroad was built, even those who feel it to be a +matter of conscience to inveigh against any kind of progress which +ministers to the pleasures of the masses, are found among those who +prefer to ascend by electricity. The trip up is often made very amusing +as among the crowds are always some, who knowing really nothing of the +place, feel it incumbent upon themselves to point out all of the peaks, +in a way quite discomposing to anybody familiar with the locality or +versed in geography! Quite a luxurious little hôtel now surmounts the +top of the Gorner-Grat. In it, about it and above it, on the walled +terrace assembles a motley crowd every clear day in summer, clad in +every variety of costume, conventional and unconventional.... + +An ordinary scene would be ruined by such a crowd, but not so the +Gorner-Grat. The very majesty and magnificence of the view make +one forget the vaporings of mere man, and the Glory of God, so +overpoweringly revealed in those regions of perpetual snow, drives other +impressions away. And if one wishes to be alone, it is easily possible +by walking a little further along the ridge where some rock will shut +out all sight of man and the wind will drive away the sound of voices. + +It is doubtful if there is any view comparable with that of the +Gorner-Grat. There is what is called a "near view," and there is also +what is known as a "distant view," for completely surrounded by snow +peak and glacier, the eye passes from valley to summit, resting on that +wonderful stretch of shining white which forms the skyline. To say that +one can count dozens of glaciers, that he can see fifty summits, that +Monte Rosa, the Lyskamm, the Twins, the Breithorn, the Matterhorn, the +Dent Blanche, the Weisshorn, with many other mountains of the Valais +and Oberland form a complete circle of snow peaks, may establish the +geography of the place but it does not convey any but the faintest +picture of the sublime grandeur of the scene.... + +An exciting experience for novices is to go with a guide from the +Gorner-Grat to the Hohtäligrat and thence down to the Findelen Glacier. +It looks dangerous but it is not really so, if the climber is careful, +for altho there is a sheer descent on either side of the arête or ridge +which leads from the one point to the other, the way is never narrow and +only over easy rocks and snow. + +The Hohtäligrat is almost 11,000 feet in altitude and has a splendid +survey of the sky line. One looks up at snow, one looks down at snow, +one looks around at snow! From the beautiful summits of Monte Rosa, the +eye passes in a complete circle, up and down, seeing in succession the +white snow peaks, with their great glistening glaciers below, showing in +strong contrast the occasional rock pyramids like the Matterhorn and the +group around the Rothhorn. + + +THROUGH THE ST. GOTHARD INTO ITALY[45] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +This is Geschenen, at the entrance of the great tunnel, the meeting +place of the upper gorges of the Reuss, the valley of Urseren, of the +Oberalp, and of the Furka. Geschenen has now the calm tranquility of old +age. But during the nine years that it took to bore the great tunnel, +what juvenile activity there was here, what feverish eagerness in this +village, crowded, inundated, overflowed by workmen from Italy, from +Tessin, from Germany and France! One would have thought that out of that +dark hole, dug out in the mountain, they were bringing nuggets of gold. + +On all the roads nothing was to be seen but bands of workmen arriving, +with miners' lamps hung to their old soldier's knapsacks. Nobody could +tell how they were all to be lodged. One double bed was occupied in +succession by twenty-four men in twenty-four hours. Some of the workmen +set up their establishments in barns; in all directions movable canteens +sprung up, built all awry and hardly holding together, and in mean +sheds, doubtful, bad-looking places, the dishonest merchant hastened to +sell his adulterated brandy.... + +The St. Gothard tunnel is about one and two-third miles longer than that +of Mount Cenis, and more than three miles longer than that of Arlberg. +While the train is passing with a dull rumbling sound under these +gloomy vaults, let us explain how the great work of boring the Alps was +accomplished. + +The mechanical work of perforation was begun simultaneously on the north +and south sides of the mountain, working toward the same point, so as to +meet toward the middle of the boring. The waters of the Reuss and the +Tessin supplied the necessary motive power for working the screws +attached to machinery for compressing the air. The borers applied to the +rock the piston of a cylinder made to rotate with great rapidity by the +pressure of air reduced to one-twentieth of its ordinary volume; then +when they had made holes sufficiently deep, they withdrew the machines +and charged the mines with dynamite. Immediately after the explosion, +streams of wholesome air were liberated which dissipated the smoke; then +the débris was cleared away, and the borers returned to their place. The +same work was thus carried on day and night, for nine years. + +On the Geschenen side all went well; but on the other side, on the +Italian slope, unforseen obstacles and difficulties had to be overcome. +Instead of having to encounter the solid rock, they found themselves +among a moving soil formed by the deposit of glaciers and broken by +streams of water. Springs burst out, like the jet of a fountain, under +the stroke of the pick, flooding and driving away the workmen. For +twelve months they seemed to be in the midst of a lake. But nothing +could damp the ardor of the contractor, Favre. + +His troubles were greater still when the undertaking had almost been +suspended for want of money, when the workmen struck in 1875, and, when, +two years later, the village of Arola was destroyed by fire. And how +many times, again and again, the mason-work of the vaulted roof gave way +and fell! Certain "bad places," as they were called, cost more than nine +hundred pounds per yard. + +In the interior of the mountain the thermometer marked 86 degrees +(Fahr.), but so long as the tunnel was still not completely bored, the +workmen were sustained by a kind of fever, and made redoubled efforts. +Discouragement and desertion did not appear among them till the goal was +almost reached. + +The great tunnel passed, we find ourselves fairly in Italy. The mulberry +trees, with silky white bark and delicate, transparent leaves; the +chestnuts, with enormous trunks like cathedral columns; the vine, +hanging to high trellises supported by granite pillars, its festoons as +capricious as the feats of those who partake too freely of its fruits; +the white tufty heads of the maize tossing in the breeze; all that +strong and luxuriant vegetation through which waves of moist air are +passing; those flowers of rare beauty, of a grace and brilliancy that +belong only to privileged zones;--all this indicates a more robust and +fertile soil, and a more fervid sky than those of the upper villages +which we have just left. + + + +X + +ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING + +FIRST ATTEMPTS HALF A CENTURY AGO[46] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +On the 23d of July, 1860, I started for my first tour of the Alps. At +Zermatt I wandered in many directions, but the weather was bad and my +work was much retarded. One day, after spending a long time in attempts +to sketch near the Hörnli, and in futile endeavors to seize the forms +of the peaks as they for a few seconds peered out from above the dense +banks of woolly clouds, I determined not to return to Zermatt by the +usual path, but to cross the Görner glacier to the Riffel hotel. After +a rapid scramble over the polished rocks and snow-beds which skirt the +base of the Theodule glacier, and wading through some of the streams +which flow from it, at that time much swollen by the late rains, the +first difficulty was arrived at, in the shape of a precipice about +three hundred feet high. It seemed that there would be no difficulty in +crossing the glacier if the cliff could be descended, but higher up and +lower down the ice appeared, to my inexperienced eyes, to be impassable +for a single person. + +The general contour of the cliff was nearly perpendicular, but it was a +good deal broken up, and there was little difficulty in descending by +zigzagging from one mass to another. At length there was a long slab, +nearly smooth, fixt at an angle of about forty degrees between two +wall-sided pieces of rock; nothing, except the glacier, could be seen +below. It was a very awkward place, but being doubtful if return were +possible, as I had been dropping from one ledge to another, I passed at +length by lying across the slab, putting the shoulder stiffly against +one side and the feet against the other, and gradually wriggling down, +by first moving the legs and then the back. When the bottom of the slab +was gained a friendly crack was seen, into which the point of the bâton +could be stuck, and I dropt down to the next piece. + +It took a long time coming down that little bit of cliff, and for a few +seconds it was satisfactory to see the ice close at hand. In another +moment a second difficulty presented itself. The glacier swept round an +angle of the cliff, and as the ice was not of the nature of treacle or +thin putty, it kept away from the little bay on the edge of which I +stood. We were not widely separated, but the edge of the ice was higher +than the opposite edge of rock; and worse, the rock was covered with +loose earth and stones which had fallen from above. All along the side +of the cliff, as far as could be seen in both directions, the ice did +not touch it, but there was this marginal crevasse seven feet wide and +of unknown depth. All this was seen at a glance, and almost at once I +concluded that I could not jump the crevass and began to try along the +cliff lower down, but without success, for the ice rose higher and +higher until at last farther progress was stopt by the cliffs becoming +perfectly smooth. With an ax it would have been possible to cut up the +side of the ice--without one, I saw there was no alternative but to +return and face the jump. + +It was getting toward evening, and the solemn stillness of the High Alps +was broken only by the sound of rushing water or of falling rocks. If +the jump should be successful, well; if not, I fell into the horrible +chasm, to be frozen in, or drowned in that gurgling, rushing water. +Everything depended on that jump. Again I asked myself "Can it be +done?" It must be. So, finding my stick was useless, I threw it and the +sketch-book to the ice, and first retreating as far as possible, ran +forward with all my might, took the leap, barely reached the other side, +and fell awkwardly on my knees. At the same moment a shower of stones +fell on the spot from which I had jumped. + +The glacier was crossed without further trouble, but the Riffel, which +was then a very small building, was crammed with tourists, and could +not take me in. As the way down was unknown to me, some of the people +obligingly suggested getting a man at the chalets, otherwise the path +would be certainly lost in the forest. On arriving at the chalets no man +could be found, and the lights of Zermatt, shining through the trees, +seemed to say, "Never mind a guide, but come along down; we'll show you +the way"; so off I went through the forest, going straight toward them. +The path was lost in a moment, and was never recovered. I was tript up +by pine roots, I tumbled over rhododendron bushes, I fell over rocks. +The night was pitch-dark, and after a time the lights of Zermatt became +obscure or went out altogether. By a series of slides or falls, or +evolutions more or less disagreeable, the descent through the forest was +at length accomplished, but torrents of a formidable character had still +to be passed before one could arrive at Zermatt. I felt my way about for +hours, almost hopelessly, by an exhaustive process at last discovering a +bridge, and about midnight, covered with dirt and scratches, reentered +the inn which I had quitted in the morning.... + +I descended the valley, diverging from the path at Randa to mount the +slopes of the Dom (the highest of the Mischabelhörner), in order to +see the Weisshorn face to face. The latter mountain is the noblest in +Switzerland, and from this direction it looks especially magnificent. On +its north there is a large snowy plateau that feeds the glacier of which +a portion is seen from Randa, and which on more than one occasion +has destroyed that village. From the direction of the Dom--that is, +immediately opposite--this Bies glacier seems to descend nearly +vertically; it does not do so, altho it is very steep. Its size is much +less than formerly and the lower portion, now divided into three tails, +clings in a strange, weird-like manner to the cliffs, to which it seems +scarcely possible that it can remain attached. + +Unwillingly I parted from the sight of this glorious mountain, and went +down to Visp. Arriving once more in the Rhone valley, I proceeded to +Viesch, and from thence ascended the Aeggischhorn, on which unpleasant +eminence I lost my way in a fog, and my temper shortly afterward. Then, +after crossing the Grimsel in a severe thunderstorm, I passed on to +Brienz, Interlachen and Berne, and thence to Fribourg and Morat, +Neuchâtel, Martigny and the St. Bernard. The massive walls of the +convent were a welcome sight as I waded through the snow-beds near the +summit of the pass, and pleasant also was the courteous salutation of +the brother who bade me enter. + +Instead of descending to Aosta, I turned into the Val Pelline, in order +to obtain views of the Dent d'Erin. The night had come on before Biona +was gained, and I had to knock long and loud upon the door of the curé's +house before it was opened. An old woman with querulous voice and with a +large goître answered the summons, and demanded rather sharply what was +wanted, but became pacific, almost good-natured, when a five-franc piece +was held in her face and she heard that lodging and supper were required +in exchange. + +My directions asserted that a passage existed from Prerayen, at the head +of this valley, to Breuil, in the Val Tournanche, and the old woman, +now convinced of my respectability, busied herself to find a guide. +Presently she introduced a native picturesquely attired in high-peaked +hat, braided jacket, scarlet waistcoat and indigo pantaloons, who agreed +to take me to the village of Val Tournanche. We set off early on the +next morning, and got to the summit of the pass without difficulty. It +gave me my first experience of considerable slopes of hard, steep snow, +and, like all beginners, I endeavored to prop myself up with my stick, +and kept it outside, instead of holding it between myself and the slope, +and leaning upon it, as should have been done. + +The man enlightened me, but he had, properly, a very small opinion of +his employer, and it is probably on that account that, a few minutes +after we had passed the summit, he said he would not go any farther and +would return to Biona. All argument was useless; he stood still, and to +everything that was said answered nothing but that he would go back. +Being rather nervous about descending some long snow-slopes which still +intervened between us and the head of the valley, I offered more pay, +and he went on a little way. Presently there were some cliffs, down +which we had to scramble. He called to me to stop, then shouted that he +would go back, and beckoned to me to come up. + +On the contrary, I waited for him to come down, but instead of doing so, +in a second or two he turned round, clambered deliberately up the cliff +and vanished. I supposed it was only a ruse to extort offers of more +money, and waited for half an hour, but he did not appear again. This +was rather embarrassing, for he carried off my knapsack. The choice of +action lay between chasing him and going on to Breuil, risking the loss +of my knapsack. I chose the latter course, and got to Breuil the same +evening. The landlord of the inn, suspicious of a person entirely +innocent of luggage, was doubtful if he could admit me, and eventually +thrust me into a kind of loft, which was already occupied by guides and +by hay. In later years we became good friends, and he did not hesitate +to give credit and even to advance considerable sums. + +My sketches from Breuil were made under difficulties; my materials +had been carried off, nothing better than fine sugar-paper could be +obtained, and the pencils seemed to contain more silica than plumbago. +However, they were made, and the pass was again crossed, this time +alone. By the following evening the old woman of Biona again produced +the faithless guide. The knapsack was recovered after the lapse of +several hours, and then I poured forth all the terms of abuse and +reproach of which I was master. The man smiled when I called him a liar, +and shrugged his shoulders when referred to as a thief, but drew his +knife when spoken of as a pig. + +The following night was spent at Cormayeur, and the day after I crossed +the Col Ferrex to Orsières, and on the next the Tête Noir to Chamounix. +The Emperor Napoleon arrived the same day, and access to the Mer de +Glace was refused to tourists; but, by scrambling along the Plan +des Aiguilles, I managed to outwit the guards, and to arrive at the +Montanvert as the imperial party was leaving, failing to get to the +Jardin the same afternoon, but very nearly succeeding in breaking a leg +by dislodging great rocks on the moraine of the glacier. + +From Chamounix I went to Geneva, and thence by the Mont Cenis to Turin +and to the Vaudois valleys. A long and weary day had ended when Paesana +was reached. The next morning I passed the little lakes which are the +sources of the Po, on my way into France. The weather was stormy, and +misinterpreting the dialect of some natives--who in reality pointed out +the right way--I missed the track, and found myself under the cliffs of +Monte Viso. A gap that was occasionally seen in the ridge connecting it +with the mountains to the east tempted me up, and after a battle with a +snow-slope of excessive steepness, I reached the summit. The scene was +extraordinary, and, in my experience, unique. To the north there was not +a particle of mist, and the violent wind coming from that direction +blew one back staggering. But on the side of Italy the valleys were +completely filled with dense masses of cloud to a certain level; and +here--where they felt the influence of the wind--they were cut off as +level as the top of a table, the ridges appearing above them. + +I raced down to Abries, and went on through the gorge of the Guil to +Mont Dauphin. The next day found me at La Bessée, at the junction of the +Val Louise with the valley of the Durance, in full view of Mont Pelvoux. +The same night I slept at Briançon, intending to take the courier on the +following day to Grenoble, but all places had been secured several days +beforehand, so I set out at two P.M. on the next day for a seventy-mile +walk. The weather was again bad, and on the summit of the Col de +Lautaret I was forced to seek shelter in the wretched little hospice. It +was filled with workmen who were employed on the road, and with noxious +vapors which proceeded from them. The inclemency of the weather was +preferable to the inhospitality of the interior. + +Outside, it was disagreeable, but grand--inside, it was disagreeable and +mean. The walk was continued under a deluge of rain, and I felt the way +down, so intense was the darkness, to the village of La Grave, where the +people of the inn detained me forcibly. It was perhaps fortunate that +they did so, for during that night blocks of rock fell at several places +from the cliffs on to the road with such force that they made large +holes in the macadam, which looked as if there had been explosions +of gunpowder. I resumed the walk at half-past five next morning, and +proceeded, under steady rain, through Bourg d'Oysans to Grenoble, +arriving at the latter place soon after seven P.M., having accomplished +the entire distance from Briançon in about eighteen hours of actual +walking. + +This was the end of the Alpine portion of my tour of 1860, on which +I was introduced to the great peaks, and acquired the passion for +mountain-scrambling. + + +FIRST TO THE TOP OF THE MATTERHORN[47] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +We started from Zermatt on the 13th of July at half-past five, on +a brilliant and perfectly cloudless morning. We were eight in +number--Croz, old Peter and his two sons, Lord Francis Douglas, Hadow, +Hudson and I. To ensure steady motion, one tourist and one native walked +together. The youngest Taugwalder fell to my share, and the lad marched +well, proud to be on the expedition and happy to show his powers. The +wine-bags also fell to my lot to carry, and throughout the day, after +each drink, I replenished them secretly with water, so that at the next +halt they were found fuller than before! This was considered a good +omen, and little short of miraculous. + +On the first day we did not intend to ascend to any great height, and we +mounted, accordingly, very leisurely, picked up the things which were +left in the chapel at the Schwarzsee at 8:20, and proceeded thence along +the ridge connecting the Hörnli with the Matterhorn. At half-past eleven +we arrived at the base of the actual peak, then quitted the ridge and +clambered round some ledges on to the eastern face. We were now fairly +upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which +from the Riffel, or even from the Furggengletscher, looked entirely +impracticable, were so easy that we could run about. + +Before twelve o'clock we had found a good position for the tent, at a +height of eleven thousand feet. Croz and young Peter went on to see what +was above, in order to save time on the following morning. They +cut across the heads of the snow-slopes which descended toward the +Furggengletscher, and disappeared round a corner, but shortly afterward +we saw them high up on the face, moving quickly. We others made a solid +platform for the tent in a well-protected spot, and then watched eagerly +for the return of the men. The stones which they upset told that they +were very high, and we supposed that the way must be easy. At length, +just before 3 P.M., we saw them coming down, evidently much excited. +"What are they saying, Peter?" "Gentlemen, they say it is no good." But +when they came near we heard a different story: "Nothing but what was +good--not a difficulty, not a single difficulty! We could have gone to +the summit and returned to-day easily!" + +We passed the remaining hours of daylight--some basking in the sunshine, +some sketching or collecting--and when the sun went down, giving, as it +departed, a glorious promise for the morrow, we returned to the tent to +arrange for the night. Hudson made tea, I coffee, and we then retired +each one to his blanket-bag, the Taugwalders, Lord Francis Douglas and +myself occupying the tent, the others remaining, by preference, outside. +Long after dusk the cliffs above echoed with our laughter and with the +songs of the guides, for we were happy that night in camp, and feared no +evil. + +We assembled together outside the tent before dawn on the morning of the +14th, and started directly it was light enough to move. Young Peter came +on with us as a guide, and his brother returned to Zermatt. We followed +the route which had been taken on the previous day, and in a few minutes +turned the rib which had intercepted the view of the eastern face from +our tent platform. The whole of this great slope was now revealed, +rising for three thousand feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts +were more and others were less easy, but we were not once brought to a +halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front +it could always be turned to the right or to the left. + +For the greater part of the way there was indeed no occasion for the +rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6:20 we had +attained a height of twelve thousand eight hundred feet, and halted for +half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9:55, +when we stopt for fifty minutes at a height of fourteen thousand feet. +Twice we struck the northeastern ridge, and followed it for some little +distance--to no advantage, for it was usually more rotten and steep, and +always more difficult, than the face. Still, we kept near to it, lest +stones perchance might fall. + +We had now arrived at the foot of that part which, from the Riffelberg +or from Zermatt, seems perpendicular or overhanging, and could no longer +continue upon the eastern side. For a little distance we ascended by +snow upon the arête--that is, the ridge--descending toward Zermatt, and +then by common consent turned over to the right, or to the northern +side. Before doing so we made a change in the order of ascent. Croz went +first, I followed, Hudson came third; Hadow and old Peter were +last. "Now," said Croz as he led off--"now for something altogether +different." The work became difficult, and required caution. In some +places there was little to hold, and it was desirable that those should +be in front who were least likely to slip. The general slope of the +mountain at this part was less than forty degrees, and snow had +accumulated in, and had filled up, the interstices of the rock-face, +leaving only occasional fragments projecting here and there. These were +at times covered with a thin film of ice, produced from the melting and +refreezing of the snow. + +It was the counterpart, on a small scale, of the upper seven +hundred feet of the Pointe des Écrins; only there was this material +difference--the face of the Écrins was about, or exceeded, an angle of +fifty degrees, and the Matterhorn face was less than forty degrees. It +was a place over which any fair mountaineers might pass in safety, +and Mr. Hudson ascended this part, and, as far as I know, the entire +mountain, without having the slightest assistance rendered to him upon +any occasion. Sometimes, after I had taken a hand from Croz or received +a pull, I turned to offer the same to Hudson, but he invariably +declined, saying it was not necessary. Mr. Hadow, however, was not +accustomed to this kind of work, and required continual assistance. It +is only fair to say that the difficulty which he found at this part +arose simply and entirely from want of experience. + +This solitary difficult part was of no great extent. We bore away over +it at first nearly horizontally, for a distance of about four hundred +feet, then ascended directly toward the summit for about sixty feet, and +then doubled back to the ridge which descends toward Zermatt. A long +stride round a rather awkward corner brought us to snow once more. The +last doubt vanished! The Matterhorn was ours! Nothing but two hundred +feet of easy snow remained to be surmounted!.... + +The summit of the Matterhorn was formed of a rudely level ridge, +about three hundred and fifty feet long. The day was one of those +superlatively calm and clear ones which usually precede bad weather. The +atmosphere was perfectly still and free from clouds or vapors. Mountains +fifty--nay, a hundred--miles off looked sharp and near. All their +details--ridge and crag, snow and glacier--stood out with faultless +definition. Pleasant thoughts of happy days in bygone years came +up unbidden as we recognized the old, familiar forms. All were +revealed--not one of the principal peaks of the Alps was hidden. I see +them clearly now--the great inner circles of giants, backed by the +ranges, chains and "massifs." First came the Dent Blanche, hoary and +grand; the Gabelhorn and pointed Rothborn, and then the peerless +Weisshorn; the towering Mischabelhörner flanked by the Allaleinhorn, +Strahlhorn and Rimpfischhorn; then Monte Rosa--with its many +Spitzen--the Lyskamm and the Breithorn. Behind were the Bernese +Oberland, governed by the Finsteraarhorn, the Simplon and St. Gothard +groups, the Disgrazia and the Orteler. Toward the south we looked down +to Chivasso on the plain of Piedmont, and far beyond. The Viso--one +hundred miles away--seemed close upon us; the Maritime Alps--one hundred +and thirty miles distant--were free from haze. + +Then came into view my first love--the Pelvoux; the Écrins and the +Meije; the clusters of the Graians; and lastly, in the west, gorgeous +in the full sunlight, rose the monarch of all--Mont Blanc. Ten thousand +feet beneath us were the green fields of Zermatt, dotted with chalets, +from which blue smoke rose lazily. Eight thousand feet below, on the +other side, were the pastures of Breuil. There were forests black and +gloomy, and meadows bright and lively; bounding waterfalls and tranquil +lakes; fertile lands and savage wastes: sunny plains and frigid +plateaux. There were the most rugged forms and the most graceful +outlines--bold, perpendicular cliffs and gentle, undulating slopes; +rocky mountains and snowy mountains, somber and solemn or glittering +and white, with walls, turrets, pinnacles, pyramids, domes, cones and +spires! There was every combination that the world can give, and every +contrast that the heart could desire. We remained on the summit for one +hour-- + + One crowded hour of glorious life. + + +THE LORD FRANCIS DOUGLAS TRAGEDY[48] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +We began to prepare for the descent. Hudson and I again consulted as to +the best and safest arrangement of the party. We agreed that it would +be best for Croz to go first, and Hadow second; Hudson, who was almost +equal to a guide in sureness of foot, wished to be third; Lord Francis +Douglas was placed next, and old Peter, the strongest of the remainder, +after him. I suggested to Hudson that we should attach a rope to the +rocks on our arrival at the difficult bit, and hold it as we descended, +as an additional protection. He approved the idea, but it was not +definitely settled that it should be done. The party was being arranged +in the above order while I was sketching the summit, and they had +finished, and were waiting for me to be tied in line, when some one +remembered that our names had not been left in a bottle. They requested +me to write them down, and moved off while it was being done. + +A few minutes afterward I tied myself to young Peter, ran down after the +others, and caught them just as they were commencing the descent of the +difficult part. Great care was being taken. Only one man was moving at a +time; when he was firmly planted, the next advanced, and so on. They had +not, however, attached the additional rope to rocks, and nothing was +said about it. The suggestion was not made for my own sake, and I am +not sure that it even occurred to me again. For some little distance we +followed the others, detached from them, and should have continued so +had not Lord Francis Douglas asked me, about 3 P.M., to tie on to old +Peter, as he feared, he said, that Taugwalder would not be able to hold +his ground if a slip occurred. + +A few minutes later a sharp-eyed lad ran into the Monte Rosa hotel to +Seiler,[49] saying that he had seen an avalanche fall from the summit of +the Matterhorn on to the Matterhorngletscher. The boy was reproved for +telling such idle stories; he was right, nevertheless, and this was what +he saw. + +Michael Croz had laid aside his ax, and in order to give Mr. Hadow +greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his +feet, one by one, into their proper positions. As far as I know, no one +was actually descending. I can not speak with certainty, because the two +leading men were partially hidden from my sight by an intervening mass +of rock, but it is my belief, from the movements of their shoulders, +that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round +to go down a step or two himself; at the moment Mr. Hadow slipt, fell +against him and knocked him over. + +I heard one startled exclamation from Croz, then saw him and Mr. Hadow +flying downward; in another moment Hudson was dragged from his steps, +and Lord Francis Douglas immediately after him. All this was the work +of a moment. Immediately we heard Croz's exclamation, old Peter and I +planted ourselves as firmly as the rocks would permit; the rope was taut +between us, and the jerk came on us both as one man. We held, but the +rope broke midway between Taugwalder and Lord Francis Douglas. For a +few seconds we saw our unfortunate companions sliding downward on their +backs, and spreading out their hands, endeavoring to save themselves. +They passed from our sight uninjured, disappeared one by one, and fell +from precipice to precipice on to the Matterhorngletscher below, a +distance of nearly four thousand feet in height. From the moment the +rope broke it was impossible to help them. + +So perished our comrades! For the space of half an hour we remained on +the spot without moving a single step. The two men, paralyzed by terror, +cried like infants, and trembled in such a manner as to threaten us with +the fate of the others. Old Peter rent the air with exclamations of +"Chamounix!--oh, what will Chamounix say?" He meant, who would believe +that Croz could fall? The young man did nothing but scream or sob, "We +are lost! we are lost!" Fixt between the two, I could move neither up +nor down. I begged young Peter to descend, but he dared not. Unless he +did, we could not advance. Old Peter became alive to the danger, and +swelled the cry, "We are lost! we are lost!" + +The father's fear was natural--he trembled for his son; the young man's +fear was cowardly--he thought of self alone. At last old Peter summoned +up courage, and changed his position to a rock to which he could fix +the rope; the young man then descended, and we all stood together. +Immediately we did so, I asked for the rope which had given way, and +found, to my surprise--indeed, to my horror--that it was the weakest of +the three ropes. It was not brought, and should not have been employed, +for the purpose for which it was used. It was old rope, and, compared +with the others, was feeble. It was intended as a reserve, in case we +had to leave much rope behind attached to rocks. I saw at once that a +serious question was involved, and made them give me the end. It had +broken in mid-air, and it did not appear to have sustained previous +injury. + +For more than two hours afterward I thought almost every moment that the +next would be my last, for the Taugwalders, utterly unnerved, were not +only incapable of giving assistance, but were in such a state that a +slip might have been expected from them at any moment. After a time we +were able to do that which should have been done at first, and fixt rope +to firm rocks, in addition to being tied together. These ropes were cut +from time to time, and were left behind. Even with their assurance the +men were afraid to proceed, and several times old Peter turned with ashy +face and faltering limbs, and said with terrible emphasis, "I can not!" + +About 6 P.M. we arrived at the snow upon, the ridge descending toward +Zermatt, and all peril was over. We frequently looked, but in vain, for +traces of our unfortunate companions; we bent over the ridge and cried +to them, but no sound returned. Convinced at last that they were within +neither sight nor hearing, we ceased from our useless efforts, and, too +cast down for speech, silently gathered up our things, preparatory to +continuing the descent. + +When lo! a mighty arch appeared, rising above the Lyskamm high into the +sky. Pale, colorless and noiseless, but perfectly sharp and defined, +except where it was lost in the clouds, this unearthly apparition seemed +like a vision from another world, and almost appalled we watched with +amazement the gradual development of two vast crosses, one on either +side. If the Taugwalders had not been the first to perceive it, I should +have doubted my senses. They thought it had some connection with the +accident, and I, after a while, that it might bear some relations to +ourselves. But our movements had no effect upon it. The spectral forms +remained motionless. It was a fearful and wonderful sight, unique in my +experience, and impressive beyond description, at such a moment.... + +Night fell, and for an hour the descent was continued in the darkness. +At half-past nine a resting-place was found, and upon a wretched slab, +barely large enough to hold three, we passed six miserable hours. At +daybreak the descent was resumed, and from the Hornli ridge we ran down +to the chalets of Buhl and on to Zermatt. Seiler met me at his door, and +followed in silence to my room: "What is the matter?" "The Taugwalders +and I have returned." He did not need more, and burst into tears, but +lost no time in lamentations, and set to work to arouse the village. + +Ere long a score of men had started to ascend the Hohlicht heights, +above Kalbermatt and Z'Mutt, which commanded the plateau of the +Matterhorngletscher. They returned after six hours, and reported that +they had seen the bodies lying motionless on the snow. This was on +Saturday, and they proposed that we should leave on Sunday evening, so +as to arrive upon the plateau at daybreak on Monday. We started at 2 +A.M. on Sunday, the 16th, and followed the route that we had taken on +the previous Thursday as far as the Hornli. From thence we went down +to the right of the ridge, and mounted through the "séracs" of the +Matterhorngletscher. By 8:30 we had got to the plateau at the top of the +glacier, and within sight of the corner in which we knew my companions +must be. As we saw one weather-beaten man after another raise the +telescope, turn deadly pale and pass it on without a word to the next, +we knew that all hope was gone. We approached. They had fallen below as +they had fallen above--Croz a little in advance, Hadow near him, and +Hudson behind, but of Lord Francis Douglas we could see nothing.[50] We +left them where they fell, buried in snow at the base of the grandest +cliff of the most majestic mountain of the Alps. + + +AN ASCENT OF MONTE ROSA[51] + +BY JOHN TYNDALL + +On Monday, the 9th of August, we reached the Riffel, and, by good +fortune on the evening of the same day, my guide's brother, the +well-known Ulrich Lauener, also arrived at the hotel on his return from +Monte Rosa. From him we obtained all the information possible respecting +the ascent, and he kindly agreed to accompany us a little way the next +morning, to put us on the right track. At three A.M. the door of my +bedroom opened, and Christian Lauener announced to me that the weather +was sufficiently good to justify an attempt. The stars were shining +overhead; but Ulrich afterward drew our attention to some heavy clouds +which clung to the mountains on the other side of the valley of the +Visp; remarking that the weather might continue fair throughout the day, +but that these clouds were ominous. At four o'clock we were on our way, +by which time a gray stratus cloud had drawn itself across the neck of +the Matterhorn, and soon afterward another of the same nature encircled +his waist. We proceeded past the Riffelhorn to the ridge above the +Görner Glacier, from which Monte Rosa was visible from top to bottom, +and where an animated conversation in Swiss dialect commenced. + +Ulrich described the slopes, passes, and precipices, which were to guide +us; and Christian demanded explanations, until he was finally able to +declare to me that his knowledge was sufficient. We then bade Ulrich +good-by, and went forward. All was clear about Monte Rosa, and the +yellow morning light shone brightly upon its uppermost snows. Beside +the Queen of the Alps was the huge mass of the Lyskamm, with a saddle +stretching from the one to the other; next to the Lyskamm came two +white, rounded mounds, smooth and pure, the Twins Castor and Pollux, +and further to the right again the broad, brown flank of the Breithorn. +Behind us Mont Cervin[52] gathered the clouds more thickly round him, +until finally his grand obelisk was totally hidden. We went along the +mountain side for a time, and then descended to the glacier. + +The surface was hard frozen, and the ice crunched loudly under our +feet. There was a hollowness and volume in the sound which require +explanation; and this, I think, is furnished by the remarks of Sir John +Herschel on those hollow sounds at the Solfaterra, near Naples, from +which travelers have inferred the existence of cavities within the +mountain. At the place where these sounds are heard the earth is +friable, and, when struck, the concussion is reinforced and lengthened +by the partial echoes from the surfaces of the fragments. The +conditions for a similar effect exist upon the glacier, for the ice is +disintegrated to a certain depth, and from the innumerable places +of rupture little reverberations are sent, which give a length and +hollowness to the sound produced by the crushing of the fragments on the +surface. + +We looked to the sky at intervals, and once a meteor slid across it, +leaving a train of sparks behind. The blue firmament, from which the +stars shone down so brightly when we rose, was more and more invaded by +clouds, which advanced upon us from our rear, while before us the solemn +heights of Monte Rosa were bathed in rich yellow sunlight. As the day +advanced the radiance crept down toward the valleys; but still those +stealthy clouds advanced like a besieging army, taking deliberate +possession of the summits, one after another, while gray skirmishers +moved through the air above us. The play of light and shadow upon Monte +Rosa was at times beautiful, bars of gloom and zones of glory shifting +and alternating from top to bottom of the mountain. + +At five o'clock a gray cloud alighted on the shoulder of the Lyskamm, +which had hitherto been warmed by the lovely yellow light. Soon +afterward we reached the foot of Monte Rosa, and passed from the glacier +to a slope of rocks, whose rounded forms and furrowed surfaces showed +that the ice of former ages had moved over them; the granite was now +coated with lichens, and between the bosses where mold could rest were +patches of tender moss. As we ascended a peal to the right announced the +descent of an avalanche from the Twins; it came heralded by clouds of +ice-dust, which resembled the sphered masses of condensed vapor which +issue from a locomotive. + +A gentle snow-slope brought us to the base of a precipice of brown +rocks, round which we wound; the snow was in excellent order, and the +chasms were so firmly bridged by the frozen mass that no caution was +necessary in crossing them. Surmounting a weathered cliff to our left, +we paused upon the summit to look upon the scene around us. The snow +gliding insensibly from the mountains, or discharged in avalanches from +the precipices which it overhung, filled the higher valleys with pure +white glaciers, which were rifted and broken here and there, exposing +chasms and precipices from which gleamed the delicate blue of the +half-formed ice. Sometimes, however, the "névés" spread over wide spaces +without a rupture or wrinkle to break the smoothness of the superficial +snow. The sky was now, for the most part, overcast, but through the +residual blue spaces the sun at intervals poured light over the rounded +bosses of the mountain. + +At half-past seven o'clock we reached another precipice of rock, to the +left of which our route lay, and here Lauener proposed to have some +refreshment; after which we went on again. The clouds spread more and +more, leaving at length mere specks and patches of blue between them. +Passing some high peaks, formed by the dislocation of the ice, we came +to a place where the "névé" was rent by crevasses, on the walls of which +the stratification, due to successive snowfalls, was thrown with great +beauty and definition. Between two of these fissures our way now lay; +the wall of one of them was hollowed out longitudinally midway down, +thus forming a roof above and a ledge below, and from roof to ledge +stretched a railing of cylindrical icicles, as if intended to bolt them +together. A cloud now for the first time touched the summit of Monte +Rosa, and sought to cling to it, but in a minute it dispersed in +shattered fragments, as if dashed to pieces for its presumption. The +mountain remained for a time clear and triumphant, but the triumph was +shortlived; like suitors that will not be repelled, the dusky vapors +came; repulse after repulse took place, and the sunlight gushed down +upon the heights, but it was manifest that the clouds gained ground in +the conflict. + +Until about a quarter-past nine o'clock our work was mere child's play, +a pleasant morning stroll along the flanks of the mountain; but steeper +slopes now rose above us, which called for more energy, and more care +in the fixing of the feet. Looked at from below, some of these slopes +appeared precipitous; but we were too well acquainted with the effect +of fore-shortening to let this daunt us. At each step we dug our batons +into the deep snow. When first driven in, the batons [53] "dipt" from +us, but were brought, as we walked forward, to the vertical, and finally +beyond it at the other side. The snow was thus forced aside, a rubbing +of the staff against it, and of the snow-particles against each other, +being the consequence. We had thus perpetual rupture and regelation; +while the little sounds consequent upon rupture reinforced by the +partial echoes from the surfaces of the granules, were blended together +to a note resembling the lowing of cows. + +Hitherto I had paused at intervals to make notes, or to take an angle; +but these operations now ceased, not from want of time, but from pure +dislike; for when the eye has to act the part of a sentinel who feels +that at any moment the enemy may be upon him; when the body must be +balanced with precision, and legs and arms, besides performing actual +labor, must be kept in readiness for possible contingencies; above all, +when you feel that your safety depends upon yourself alone, and that, if +your footing gives way, there is no strong arm behind ready to be thrown +between you and destruction; under such circumstances the relish for +writing ceases, and you are willing to hand over your impressions to the +safekeeping of memory. + +Prom the vast boss which constitutes the lower portion of Monte Rosa +cliffy edges run upward to the summit. Were the snow removed from +these we should, I doubt not, see them as toothed or serrated crags, +justifying the term "kamm," or "comb," applied to such edges by the +Germans. Our way now lay along such a "kamm," the cliffs of which had, +however, caught the snow, and been completely covered by it, forming an +edge like the ridge of a house-roof, which sloped steeply upward. On the +Lyskamm side of the edge there was no footing, and if a human body fell +over here, it would probably pass through a vertical space of some +thousands of feet, falling or rolling, before coming to rest. On +the other side the snow-slope was less steep, but excessively +perilous-looking, and intersected by precipices of ice. Dense clouds +now enveloped us, and made our position far uglier than if it had been +fairly illuminated. The valley below us was one vast cauldron, filled +with precipitated vapor, which came seething at times up the sides of +the mountain. Sometimes this fog would clear away, and the light would +gleam from the dislocated glaciers. My guide continually admonished me +to make my footing sure, and to fix at each step my staff firmly in the +consolidated snow. At one place, for a short steep ascent, the slope +became hard ice, and our position a very ticklish one. We hewed our +steps as we moved upward, but were soon glad to deviate from the ice to +a position scarcely less awkward. The wind had so acted upon the snow as +to fold it over the edge of the kamm, thus causing it to form a kind +of cornice, which overhung the precipice on the Lyskamm side of the +mountain. This cornice now bore our weight; its snow had become somewhat +firm, but it was yielding enough to permit the feet to sink in it a +little way, and thus secure us at least against the danger of slipping. +Here, also, at each step we drove our batons firmly into the snow, +availing ourselves of whatever help they could render. + +Once, while thus securing my anchorage, the handle of my hatchet went +right through the cornice on which we stood, and, on withdrawing it, I +could see through the aperture into the cloud-crammed gulf below. We +continued ascending until we reached a rock protruding from the snow, +and here we halted for a few minutes. Lauener looked upward through the +fog. "According to all description," he observed, "this ought to be the +last kamm of the mountain; but in this obscurity we can see nothing." +Snow began to fall, and we recommenced our journey, quitting the rocks +and climbing again along the edge. Another hour brought us to a crest of +cliffs, at which, to our comfort, the kamm appeared to cease, and other +climbing qualities were demanded of us. + +On the Lyskamm side, as I have said, rescue would be out of the +question, should the climber go over the edge. On the other side of the +edge rescue seemed possible, tho' the slope, as stated already, was +most dangerously steep. I now asked Lauener what he would have done, +supposing my footing to have failed on the latter slope. He did not seem +to like the question, but said that he should have considered well for +a moment and then have sprung after me; but he exhorted me to drive all +such thoughts away. I laughed at him, and this did more to set his mind +at rest than any formal profession of courage could have done. + +We were now among rocks; we climbed cliffs and descended them, and +advanced sometimes with our feet on narrow ledges, holding tightly on to +other ledges by our fingers; sometimes, cautiously balanced, we moved +along edges of rock with precipices on both sides. Once, in getting +round a crag, Lauener shook a book from his pocket; it was arrested by a +rock about sixty or eighty feet below us. He wished to regain it, but I +offered to supply its place, if he thought the descent too dangerous. He +said he would make the trial, and parted from me. I thought it useless +to remain idle. A cleft was before me, through which I must pass; so +pressing my knees and back against its opposite sides, I gradually +worked myself to the top. I descended the other face of the rock, +and then, through a second ragged fissure, to the summit of another +pinnacle. The highest point of the mountain was now at hand, separated +from me merely by a short saddle, carved by weathering out the crest +of the mountain. I could hear Lauener clattering after me, through the +rocks behind. I dropt down upon the saddle, crossed it, climbed the +opposite cliff, and "die höchste Spitze" of Monte Rosa was won. + +Lauener joined me immediately, and we mutually congratulated each other +on the success of the ascent. The residue of the bread and meat was +produced, and a bottle of tea was also appealed to. Mixed with a little +cognac, Lauener declared that he had never tasted anything like it. +Snow fell thickly at intervals, and the obscurity was very great; +occasionally this would lighten and permit the sun to shed a ghastly +dilute light upon us through the gleaming vapor. I put my boiling-water +apparatus in order, and fixt it in a corner behind a ledge; the shelter +was, however, insufficient, so I placed my hat above the vessel. The +boiling-point was 184.92 deg. Fahr., the ledge on which the instrument +stood being five feet below the highest point of the mountain. + +The ascent from the Riffel Hotel occupied us about seven hours, nearly +two of which were spent upon the kämm and crest. Neither of us felt in +the least degree fatigued; I, indeed, felt so fresh, that had another +Monte Rosa been planted on the first, I should have continued the +climb without hesitation, and with strong hopes of reaching the top. +I experienced no trace of mountain sickness, lassitude, shortness of +breath, heart-beat, or headache; nevertheless the summit of Monte Rosa +is 15,284 feet high, being less than 500 feet lower than Mont Blanc. It +is, I think, perfectly certain, that the rarefaction of the air at this +height is not sufficient of itself to produce the symptoms referred to; +physical exertion must be superadded. + + +MONT BLANC ASCENDED, HUXLEY GOING PART WAY[54] + +BY JOHN TYNDALL + +The way for a time was excessively rough,[55] our route being overspread +with the fragments of peaks which had once reared themselves to our +left, but which frost and lightning had shaken to pieces, and poured +in granite avalanches down the mountain. We were sometimes among huge, +angular boulders, and sometimes amid lighter shingle, which gave way at +every step, thus forcing us to shift our footing incessantly. Escaping +from these we crossed the succession of secondary glaciers which lie +at the feet of the Aiguilles, and, having secured firewood, found +ourselves, after some hours of hard work, at the Pierre l'Echelle. Here +we were furnished with leggings of coarse woolen cloth to keep out the +snow; they were tied under the knees and quite tightly again over the +insteps, so that the legs were effectually protected. We had some +refreshment, possest ourselves of the ladder, and entered upon the +glacier. + +The ice was excessively fissured; we crossed crevasses and crept +round slippery ridges, cutting steps in the ice wherever climbing +was necessary. This rendered our progress very slow. Once, with the +intention of lending a helping hand, I stept forward upon a block of +granite which happened to be poised like a rocking stone upon the ice, +tho' I did not know it; it treacherously turned under me; I fell, but my +hands were in instant requisition, and I escaped with a bruise, from +which, however, the blood oozed angrily. We found the ladder necessary +in crossing some of the chasms, the iron spikes at its end being firmly +driven into the ice at one side, while the other end rested on the +opposite side of the fissure. The middle portion of the glacier was +not difficult. Mounds of ice rose beside us right and left, which were +sometimes split into high towers and gaunt-looking pyramids, while the +space between was unbroken. + +Twenty minutes' walking brought us again to a fissured portion of the +glacier, and here our porter left the ladder on the ice behind him. For +some time I was not aware of this, but we were soon fronted by a chasm +to pass which we were in consequence compelled to make a long and +dangerous circuit amid crests of crumbling ice. This accomplished, we +hoped that no repetition of the process would occur, but we speedily +came to a second fissure, where it was necessary to step from a +projecting end of ice to a mass of soft snow which overhung the opposite +side. Simond could reach this snow with his long-handled ax; he beat +it down to give it rigidity, but it was exceedingly tender, and as he +worked at it he continued to express his fears that it would not bear +us. I was the lightest of the party, and therefore tested the passage +first; being partially lifted by Simond on the end of his ax, I crossed +the fissure, obtained some anchorage at the other side, and helped the +others over. We afterward ascended until another chasm, deeper and wider +than any we had hitherto encountered, arrested us. We walked alongside +of it in search of a snow-bridge, which we at length found, but the +keystone of the arch had, unfortunately, given way, leaving projecting +eaves of snow at both sides, between which we could look into the gulf, +till the gloom of its deeper portions cut the vision short. + +Both sides of the crevasse were sounded, but no sure footing was +obtained; the snow was beaten and carefully trodden down as near to the +edge as possible, but it finally broke away from the foot and fell into +the chasm. One of our porters was short-legged and a bad iceman; the +other was a daring fellow, and he now threw the knapsack from his +shoulders, came to the edge of the crevasse, looked into it, but drew +back again. After a pause he repeated the act, testing the snow with +his feet and staff. I looked at the man as he stood beside the chasm +manifestly undecided as to whether he should take the step upon which +his life would hang, and thought it advisable to put a stop to such +perilous play. I accordingly interposed, the man withdrew from the +crevasse, and he and Simond descended to fetch the ladder. + +While they were away Huxley sat down upon the ice, with an expression of +fatigue stamped upon his countenance; the spirit and the muscles were +evidently at war, and the resolute will mixed itself strangely with the +sense of peril and feeling of exhaustion. He had been only two days +with us, and, tho' his strength is great, he had had no opportunity of +hardening himself by previous exercise upon the ice for the task which +he had undertaken. The ladder now arrived, and we crossed the crevasse. +I was intentionally the last of the party, Huxley being immediately in +front of me. The determination of the man disguised his real condition +from everybody but himself, but I saw that the exhausting journey over +the boulders and débris had been too much for his London limbs. + +Converting my waterproof haversack into a cushion, I made him sit down +upon it at intervals, and by thus breaking the steep ascent into short +stages we reached the cabin of the Grands Mulets together. Here I spread +a rug on the boards, and, placing my bag for a pillow, he lay down, and +after an hour's profound sleep he rose refreshed and well; but still he +thought it wise not to attempt the ascent farther. Our porters left us; +a baton was stretched across the room over the stove, and our wet socks +and leggings were thrown across it to dry; our boots were placed around +the fire, and we set about preparing our evening meal. A pan was placed +upon the fire, and filled with snow, which in due time melted and +boiled; I ground some chocolate and placed it in the pan, and afterward +ladled the beverage into the vessels we possest, which consisted of two +earthen dishes and the metal cases of our brandy flasks. After supper +Simond went out to inspect the glacier, and was observed by Huxley, as +twilight fell, in a state of deep contemplation beside a crevasse. + +Gradually the stars appeared, but as yet no moon. Before lying down we +went out to look at the firmament, and noticed, what I supposed has been +observed to some extent by everybody, that the stars near the horizon +twinkled busily, while those near the zenith shone with a steady light. +One large star, in particular, excited our admiration; it flashed +intensely, and changed color incessantly, sometimes blushing like a +ruby, and again gleaming like an emerald. A determinate color would +sometimes remain constant for a sensible time, but usually the flashes +followed each other in very quick succession. + +Three planks were now placed across the room near the stove, and upon +these, with their rugs folded round them, Huxley and Hirst stretched +themselves, while I nestled on the boards at the most distant end of the +room. We rose at eleven o'clock, renewed the fire and warmed ourselves, +after which we lay down again. I, at length, observed a patch of pale +light upon the wooden wall of the cabin, which had entered through a +hole in the end of the edifice, and rising found that it was past one +o'clock. The cloudless moon was shining over the wastes of snow, and the +scene outside was at once wild, grand, and beautiful. + +Breakfast was soon prepared, tho' not without difficulty; we had no +candles, they had been forgotten; but I fortunately possest a box of +wax matches, of which Huxley took charge, patiently igniting them in +succession, and thus giving us a tolerably continuous light. We had +some tea, which had been made at the Montanvert,[56] and carried to the +Grands Mulets in a bottle. My memory of that tea is not pleasant; it had +been left a whole night in contact with its leaves, and smacked strongly +of tannin. The snow-water, moreover, with which we diluted it was not +pure, but left a black residuum at the bottom of the dishes in which the +beverage was served. The few provisions deemed necessary being placed in +Simond's knapsack, at twenty minutes past two o'clock we scrambled down +the rocks, leaving Huxley behind us. + +The snow was hardened by the night's frost, and we were cheered by the +hope of being able to accomplish the ascent with comparatively little +labor. We were environed by an atmosphere of perfect purity; the larger +stars hung like gems above us, and the moon, about half full, shone with +wondrous radiance in the dark firmament. One star in particular, which +lay eastward from the moon, suddenly made its appearance above one of +the Aiguilles, and burned there with unspeakable splendor. We turned +once toward the Mulets, and saw Huxley's form projected against the sky +as he stood upon a pinnacle of rock; he gave us a last wave of the hand +and descended, while we receded from him into the solitudes. + +The evening previous our guide had examined the glacier for some +distance, his progress having been arrested by a crevasse. Beside this +we soon halted: it was spanned at one place by a bridge of snow, which +was of too light a structure to permit of Simond's testing it alone; +we therefore paused while our guide uncoiled a rope and tied us all +together. The moment was to me a peculiarly solemn one. Our little party +seemed so lonely and so small amid the silence and the vastness of the +surrounding scene. We were about to try our strength under unknown +conditions, and as the various possibilities of the enterprise crowded +on the imagination, a sense of responsibility for a moment opprest +me. But as I looked aloft and saw the glory of the heavens, my heart +lightened, and I remarked cheerily to Hirst that Nature seemed to smile +upon our work. "Yes," he replied, in a calm and earnest voice, "and, God +willing, we shall accomplish it." + +A pale light now overspread the eastern sky, which increased, as we +ascended, to a daffodil tinge; this afterward heightened to orange, +deepening at one extremity into red, and fading at the other into a +pure, ethereal hue to which it would be difficult to assign a special +name. Higher up the sky was violet, and this changed by insensible +degrees into the darkling blue of the zenith, which had to thank the +light of moon and stars alone for its existence. We wound steadily for a +time through valleys of ice, climbed white and slippery slopes, crossed +a number of crevasses, and after some time found ourselves beside a +chasm of great depth and width, which extended right and left as far +as we could see. We turned to the left, and marched along its edge in +search of a "pont"; but matters became gradually worse; other crevasses +joined on to the first one, and the further we proceeded the more riven +and dislocated the ice became. + +At length we reached a place where further advance was impossible. +Simond, in his difficulty complained of the want of light, and wished us +to wait for the advancing day; I, on the contrary, thought that we had +light enough and ought to make use of it. Here the thought occurred to +me that Simond, having been only once before to the top of the mountain, +might not be quite clear about the route; the glacier, however, changes +within certain limits from year to year, so that a general knowledge was +all that could be expected, and we trusted to our own muscles to make +good any mistake in the way of guidance. + +We now turned and retraced our steps along the edges of chasms where the +ice was disintegrated and insecure, and succeeded at length in finding a +bridge which bore us across the crevasse. This error caused us the loss +of an hour, and after walking for this time we could cast a stone from +the point we had attained to the place whence we had been compelled to +return. + +Our way now lay along the face of a steep incline of snow, which was cut +by the fissure we had just passed, in a direction parallel to our route. +On the heights to our right, loose ice-crags seemed to totter, and we +passed two tracks over which the frozen blocks had rushed some short +time previously. We were glad to get out of the range of these terrible +projectiles, and still more so to escape the vicinity of that ugly +crevasse. To be killed in the open air would be a luxury, compared with +having the life squeezed out of one in the horrible gloom of these +chasms. The blush of the coming day became more and more intense; still +the sun himself did not appear, being hidden from us by the peaks of +the Aiguille du Midi, which were drawn clear and sharp against the +brightening sky. Right under this Aiguille were heaps of snow smoothly +rounded and constituting a portion of the sources whence the Glacier du +Géant is fed; these, as the day advanced, bloomed with a rosy light. We +reached the Petit Plateau, which we found covered with the remains of +ice avalanches; above us upon the crest of the mountain rose three +mighty bastions, divided from each other by deep, vertical rents, with +clean smooth walls, across which the lines of annual bedding were drawn +like courses of masonry. From these, which incessantly renew themselves, +and from the loose and broken ice-crags near them, the boulders amid +which we now threaded our way had been discharged. When they fall their +descent must be sublime. + +The snow had been gradually getting deeper, and the ascent more +wearisome, but superadded to this at the Petit Plateau was the +uncertainty of the footing between the blocks of ice. In many places +the space was merely covered by a thin crust, which, when trod upon, +instantly yielded and we sank with a shock sometimes to the hips. Our +way next lay up a steep incline to the Grand Plateau, the depth and +tenderness of the snow augmenting as we ascended. We had not yet seen +the sun, but as we attained the brow which forms the entrance to the +Grand Plateau, he hung his disk upon a spike of rock to our left, and, +surrounded by a glory of interference spectra of the most gorgeous +colors, blazed down upon us. On the Grand Plateau we halted and had our +frugal refreshment. + +At some distance to our left was the crevasse into which Dr. Hamel's +three guides were precipitated by an avalanche in 1820; they are still +entombed in the ice, and some future explorer may, perhaps, see them +disgorged lower down, fresh and undecayed. They can hardly reach the +surface until they pass the snow-line of the glacier, for above this +line the quantity of snow that annually falls being in excess of the +quantity melted, the tendency would be to make the ice-covering above +them thicker. But it is also possible that the waste of the ice +underneath may have brought the bodies to the bed of the glacier, where +their very bones may have been ground to mud by an agency which the +hardest rocks can not withstand. + +As the sun poured his light upon the Plateau the little snow-facets +sparkled brilliantly, sometimes with a pure white light, and at others +with prismatic colors. Contrasted with the white spaces above and +around us were the dark mountains on the opposite side of the valley of +Chamouni, around which fantastic masses of cloud were beginning to build +themselves. Mont Buet, with its cone of snow, looked small, and the +Brevent altogether mean; the limestone bastions of the Fys, however, +still presented a front of gloom and grandeur. We traversed the Grand +Plateau, and at length reached the base of an extremely steep incline +which stretched upward toward the Corridor. Here, as if produced by a +fault, consequent upon the sinking of the ice in front, rose a vertical +precipice, from the coping of which vast stalactites of ice depended. + +Previous to reaching this place I had noticed a haggard expression upon +the countenance of our guide, which was now intensified by the prospect +of the ascent before him. Hitherto he had always been in front, which +was certainly the most fatiguing position. I felt that I must now take +the lead, so I spoke cheerily to the man and placed him behind me. +Marking a number of points upon the slope as resting places, I went +swiftly from one to the other. The surface of the snow had been +partially melted by the sun and then refrozen, thus forming a +superficial crust, which bore the weight up to a certain point, and then +suddenly gave way, permitting the leg to sink to above the knee. The +shock consequent on this, and the subsequent effort necessary to +extricate the leg, were extremely fatiguing. My motion was complained of +as too quick, and my tracks as imperfect; I moderated the former, and to +render my footholes broad and sure, I stamped upon the frozen crust, +and twisted my legs in the soft mass underneath,--a terribly exhausting +process. I thus led the way to the base of the Rochers Bouges, up to +which the fault already referred to had prolonged itself as a crevasse, +which was roofed at one place by a most dangerous-looking snow-bridge. + +Simond came to the front; I drew his attention to the state of the snow, +and proposed climbing the Rochers Rouges; but, with a promptness unusual +with him, he replied that this was impossible; the bridge was our only +means of passing, and we must try it. We grasped our ropes, and dug our +feet firmly into the snow to check the man's descent if the "pont" gave +way, but to our astonishment it bore him, and bore us safely after +him. The slope which we had now to ascend had the snow swept from its +surface, and was therefore firm ice. It was most dangerously steep, and, +its termination being the fretted coping of the precipice to which I +have referred, if we slid downward we should shoot over this and be +dashed to pieces upon the ice below.[57] Simond, who had come to the +front to cross the crevasse, was now engaged in cutting steps, which he +made deep and large, so that they might serve us on our return. But the +listless strokes of his ax proclaimed his exhaustion; so I took the +implement out of his hands, and changed places with him. Step after step +was hewn, but the top of the Corridor appeared ever to recede from us. + +Hirst was behind, unoccupied, and could thus turn his thoughts to the +peril of our position; he "felt" the angle on which we hung, and saw the +edge of the precipice, to which less than a quarter of a minute's slide +would carry us, and for the first time during the journey he grew giddy. +A cigar which he lighted for the purpose tranquilized him. + +I hewed sixty steps upon this slope, and each step had cost a minute, by +Hirst's watch. The Mur de la Côte was still before us, and on this the +guide-books informed us two or three hundred steps were sometimes found +necessary. If sixty steps cost an hour, what would be the cost of two +hundred? The question was disheartening in the extreme, for the time at +which we had calculated on reaching the summit was already passed, while +the chief difficulties remained unconquered. Having hewn our way along +the harder ice we reached snow. I again resorted to stamping to secure a +footing, and while thus engaged became, for the first time, aware of the +drain of force to which I was subjecting myself. The thought of being +absolutely exhausted had never occurred to me, and from first to last I +had taken no care to husband my strength. I always calculated that the +"will" would serve me even should the muscles fail, but I now found that +mechanical laws rule man in the long run; that no effort of will, no +power of spirit, can draw beyond a certain limit upon muscular force. +The soul, it is true, can stir the body to action, but its function is +to excite and apply force, and not to create it. + +While stamping forward through the frozen crust I was compelled to pause +at short intervals; then would set out again apparently fresh, to +find, however, in a few minutes, that my strength was gone, and that +I required to rest once more. In this way I gained the summit of the +Corridor, when Hirst came to the front, and I felt some relief in +stepping slowly after him, making use of the holes into which his feet +had sunk. He thus led the way to the base of the Mur de la Côte, the +thought of which had so long cast a gloom upon us; here we left our rope +behind us, and while pausing I asked Simond whether he did not feel +a desire to go to the summit. "Surely," was his reply, "but!--" Our +guide's mind was so constituted that the "but" seemed essential to its +peace. I stretched my hands toward him, and said: "Simond, we must do +it." One thing alone I felt could defeat us: the usual time of the +ascent had been more than doubled, the day was already far spent, and if +the ascent would throw our subsequent descent into night it could not be +contemplated. + +We now faced the Mur, which was by no means so bad as we had expected. +Driving the iron claws of our boots into the scars made by the ax, and +the spikes of our batons into the slope above our feet, we ascended +steadily until the summit was attained, and the top of the mountain rose +clearly above us. We congratulated ourselves upon this; but Simond, +probably fearing that our joy might become too full, remarked: "But the +summit is still far off!" It was, alas! too true. The snow became soft +again, and our weary limbs sank in it as before. Our guide went on in +front, audibly muttering his doubts as to our ability to reach the top, +and at length he threw himself upon the snow, and exclaimed, "I give +up!" + +Hirst now undertook the task of rekindling the guide's enthusiasm, after +which Simond rose, exclaiming: "Oh, but this makes my knees ache!" and +went forward. Two rocks break through the snow between the summit of the +Mur and the top of the mountain; the first is called the Petits Mulets, +and the highest the Derniers Rochers. At the former of these we paused +to rest, and finished our scanty store of wine and provisions. We had +not a bit of bread nor a drop of wine left; our brandy flasks were also +nearly exhausted, and thus we had to contemplate the journey to the +summit, and the subsequent descent to the Grands Mulets, with out the +slightest prospect of physical refreshment. The almost total loss of two +nights' sleep, with two days' toil superadded, made me long for a few +minutes' doze, so I stretched myself upon a composite couch of snow and +granite, and immediately fell asleep. + +My friend, however, soon aroused me. "You quite frighten me," he said; +"I have listened for some minutes, and have not heard you breathe once." +I had, in reality, been taking deep draughts of the mountain air, but so +silently as not to be heard. + +I now filled our empty wine-bottle with snow and placed it in the +sunshine, that we might have a little water on our return. We then +rose; it was half-past two o'clock; we had been upward of twelve hours +climbing, and I calculated that, whether we reached the summit or not, +we could at all events work "toward" it for another hour. To the sense +of fatigue previously experienced, a new phenomenon was now added--the +beating of the heart. We were incessantly pulled up by this, which +sometimes became so intense as to suggest danger. I counted the number +of paces which we were able to accomplish without resting, and found +that at the end of every twenty, sometimes at the end of fifteen, we +were compelled to pause. At each pause my heart throbbed audibly, as I +leaned upon my staff, and the subsidence of this action was always +the signal for further advance. My breathing was quick, but light and +unimpeded. + +I endeavored to ascertain whether the hip-joint, on account of the +diminished atmospheric pressure, became loosened, so as to throw the +weight of the leg upon the surrounding ligaments, but could not be +certain about it. I also sought a little aid and encouragement from +philosophy, endeavoring to remember what great things had been done by +the accumulation of small quantities, and I urged upon myself that the +present was a case in point, and that the summation of distances twenty +paces each must finally place us at the top. Still the question of time +left the matter long in doubt, and until we had passed the Derniers +Rochers we worked on with the stern indifference of men who were doing +their duty, and did not look to consequences. Here, however, a gleam +of hope began to brighten our souls: the summit became visible nearer, +Simond showed more alacrity; at length success became certain, and at +half-past three P.M. my friend and I clasped hands upon the top. + +The summit of the mountain is an elongated ridge, which has been +compared to the back of an ass. It was perfectly manifest that we were +dominant over all other mountains; as far as the eye could range Mont +Blanc had no competitor. The summits which had looked down upon us in +the morning were now far beneath us. The Dôme du Goûté, which had held +its threatening "séracs" above us so long, was now at our feet. The +Aiguille du Midi, Mont Blanc du Tacul, and the Monts Maudits, the +Talèfre, with its surrounding peaks, the Grand Jorasse, Mont Mallet, and +the Aiguille du Géant, with our own familiar glaciers, were all below +us. And as our eye ranged over the broad shoulders of the mountain, over +ice hills and valleys, plateaux and far-stretching slopes of snow, the +conception of its magnitude grew upon us, and imprest us more and more. + +The clouds were very grand--grander, indeed, than anything I had ever +before seen. Some of them seemed to hold thunder in their breasts, they +were so dense and dark; others, with their faces turned sunward, shone +with the dazzling whiteness of the mountain snow; while others again +built themselves into forms resembling gigantic elm trees, loaded with +foliage. Toward the horizon the luxury of color added itself to the +magnificent alternation of light and shade. Clear spaces of amber and +ethereal green embraced the red and purple cumuli, and seemed to form +the cradle in which they swung. Closer at hand squally mists, suddenly +engendered, were driven hither and thither by local winds; while the +clouds at a distance lay "like angels sleeping on the wing," with +scarcely visibly motion. Mingling with the clouds, and sometimes rising +above them, were the highest mountain heads, and as our eyes wandered +from peak to peak, onward to the remote horizon, space itself seemed +more vast from the manner in which the objects which it held were +distributed.... + +The day was waning, and, urged by the warnings of our ever-prudent +guide, we at length began the descent. Gravity was in our favor, but +gravity could not entirely spare our wearied limbs, and where we sank +in the snow we found our downward progress very trying. I suffered from +thirst, but after we had divided the liquefied snow at the Petits Mulets +among us we had nothing to drink. I crammed the clean snow into my +mouth, but the process of melting was slow and tantalizing to a parched +throat, while the chill was painful to the teeth. + + +THE JUNGFRAU-JOCH[58] + +BY SIR LESLIE STEPHEN + +I was once more standing upon the Wengern Alp, and gazing longingly at +the Jungfrau-Joch. Surely the Wengern Alp must be precisely the loveliest +place in this world. To hurry past it, and listen to the roar of the +avalanches, is a very unsatisfactory mode of enjoyment; it reminds one +too much of letting off crackers in a cathedral. The mountains seem to +be accomplices of the people who charge fifty centimes for an echo. But +it does one's moral nature good to linger there at sunset or in the +early morning, when tourists have ceased from traveling; and the jaded +cockney may enjoy a kind of spiritual bath in the soothing calmness of +scenery.... + +We, that is a little party of six Englishmen with six Oberland guides, +who left the inn at 3 A.M. on July 20, 1862, were not, perhaps, in a +specially poetical mood. Yet as the sun rose while we were climbing the +huge buttress of the Mönch, the dullest of us--I refer, of course, +to myself--felt something of the spirit of the scenery. The day was +cloudless, and a vast inverted cone of dazzling rays suddenly struck +upward into the sky through the gap between the Mönch and the Eiger, +which, as some effect of perspective shifted its apparent position, +looked like a glory streaming from the very summit of the Eiger. It was +a good omen, if not in any more remote sense, yet as promising a fine +day. After a short climb we descended upon the Gugg, glacier, most +lamentably unpoetical of names, and mounted by it to the great plateau +which lies below the cliffs immediately under the col. We reached this +at about seven, and, after a short meal, carefully examined the route +above us. Half way between us and the col lay a small and apparently +level plateau of snow. Once upon it we felt confident that we could get +to the top.... + +We plunged at once into the maze of crevasses, finding our passage much +facilitated by the previous efforts of our guides. We were constantly +walking over ground strewed with crumbling blocks of ice, the recent +fall of which was proved by their sharp white fractures, and with a +thing like an infirm toad stool twenty feet high, towering above our +heads. Once we passed under a natural arch of ice, built in evident +disregard of all principles of architectural stability. Hurrying +judiciously at such critical points, and creeping slowly round those +where the footing was difficult, we manage to thread the labyrinth +safely, whilst Rubi appeared to think it rather pleasant than otherwise +in such places to have his head fixt in a kind of pillory between two +rungs of a ladder, with twelve feet of it sticking out behind and twelve +feet before him. + +We reached the gigantic crevasse at 7.35. We passed along it to a point +where its two lips nearly joined, and the side furthest from us was +considerably higher than that upon which we stood. Fixing the foot of +the ladder upon this ledge, we swung the top over, and found that it +rested satisfactorily against the opposite bank. Almer crept up it, +and made the top firmer by driving his ax into the snow underneath the +highest step. The rest of us followed, carefully roped, and with the +caution to rest our knees on the sides of the ladder, as several of the +steps were extremely weak--a remark which was equally applicable to one, +at least, of the sides. We crept up the rickety old machine, however, +looking down between our legs into the blue depths of the crevasse, and +at 8.15 the whole party found itself satisfactorily perched on the edge +of the nearly level snow plateau, looking up at the long slopes of +broken névé that led to the col.... + +When the man behind was also engaged in hauling himself up by the rope +attached to your waist, when the two portions of the rope formed an +acute angle, when your footing was confined to the insecure grip of one +toe on a slippery bit of ice, and when a great hummock of hard sérac was +pressing against the pit of your stomach and reducing you to a +position of neutral equilibrium, the result was a feeling of qualified +acquiescence in Michel or Almer's lively suggestion of "Vorwärts! +vorwärts!" + +Somehow or other we did ascend. The excitement made the time seem short; +and after what seemed to me to be half an hour, which was in fact nearly +two hours, we had crept, crawled, climbed and wormed our way through +various obstacles, till we found ourselves brought up by a huge +overhanging wall of blue ice. This wall was no doubt the upper side of +a crevasse, the lower part of which had been filled by snow-drift. Its +face was honeycombed by the usual hemispherical chippings, which somehow +always reminds me of the fretted walls of the Alhambra; and it was +actually hollowed out so that its upper edge overhung our heads at a +height of some twenty or thirty feet; the long fringe of icicles which +adorned it had made a slippery pathway of ice at two or three feet +distance from the foot of the wall by the freezing water which dripped +from them; and along this we crept, in hopes that none of the icicles +would come down bodily. + +The wall seemed to thin out and become much lower toward our left, and +we moved cautiously toward its lowest point. The edge upon which we +walked was itself very narrow, and ran down at a steep angle to the +top of a lower icefall which repeated the form of the upper. It almost +thinned out at the point where the upper wall was lowest. Upon this +inclined ledge, however, we fixt the foot of our ladder. The difficulty +of doing so conveniently was increased by a transverse crevasse which +here intersected the other system. The foot, however, was fixt and +rendered tolerably safe by driving in firmly several of our alpenstocks +and axes under the lowest step. Almer, then, amidst great excitement, +went forward to mount it. Should we still find an impassable system of +crevasses above us, or were we close to the top? A gentle breeze which +had been playing along the last ledge gave me hope that we were really +not far off. As Almer reached the top about twelve o'clock, a loud +yodel gave notice to all the party that our prospects were good. I soon +followed, and saw, to my great delight, a stretch of smooth, white snow, +without a single crevasse, rising in a gentle curve from our feet to the +top of the col. + +The people who had been watching us from the Wengern Alp had been +firing salutes all day, whenever the idea struck them, and whenever we +surmounted a difficulty, such as the first great crevasse. We heard the +faint sound of two or three guns as we reached the final plateau. We +should, properly speaking, have been uproariously triumphant over our +victory. To say the truth, our party of that summer was only too apt to +break out into undignified explosions of animal spirits, bordering at +times upon horseplay.... + +The top of the Jungfrau-Joch comes rather like a bathos in poetry. It +rises so gently above the steep ice wall, and it is so difficult to +determine the precise culminating point, that our enthusiasm oozed out +gradually instead of producing a sudden explosion; and that instead of +giving three cheers, singing "God Save the Queen," or observing any of +the traditional ceremonial of a simpler generation of travelers, we +calmly walked forward as tho' we had been crossing Westminster Bridge, +and on catching sight of a small patch of rocks near the foot of +the Mönch, rushed precipitately down to it and partook of our third +breakfast. Which things, like most others, might easily be made into an +allegory. + +The great dramatic moments of life are very apt to fall singularly flat. +We manage to discount all their interest beforehand; and are amazed to +find that the day to which we have looked forward so long--the day, +it may be, of our marriage, or ordination, or election to be Lord +Mayor--finds us curiously unconscious of any sudden transformation and +as strongly inclined to prosaic eating and drinking as usual. At a later +period we may become conscious of its true significance, and perhaps the +satisfactory conquest of this new pass has given us more pleasure in +later years than it did at the moment. + +However that may be, we got under way again after a meal and a chat, our +friends Messrs. George and Moore descending the Aletsch glacier to the +Aeggischhorn, whose summit was already in sight, and deceptively near in +appearance. The remainder of the party soon turned off to the left, and +ascended the snow slopes to the gap between the Mönch and Trugberg. As +we passed these huge masses, rising in solitary grandeur from the center +of one of the noblest snowy wastes of the Alps, Morgan reluctantly +confest for the first time that he knew nothing exactly like it in +Wales. + + + +XI + +OTHER ALPINE TOPICS + +THE GREAT ST. BERNARD HOSPICE[59] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +The Pass of the Great St. Bernard was a well-known one long before the +hospice was built. Before the Christian era, the Romans used it as a +highway across the Alps, constantly improving the road as travel over +it increased. Many lives were lost, however, as no material safeguards +could obviate the danger from the elements, and no one will ever know +the number of souls who met their end in the blinding snows and chilling +blasts of those Alpine heights. + +To Bernard de Menthon is due the credit of the mountain hospice. He was +the originator of the idea and the founder of the institution. He has +since been canonized as a saint and he well deserved the honor, if it be +a virtue to sacrifice oneself, as we believe, and to try and save the +lives of one's fellows! It is no easy existence which St. Bernard chose +for himself and followers. The very aspect of the pass is grand but +gloomy. None of the softness of nature is seen. There is no verdure, no +beauty of coloring, nothing but bleak, bare rock, great piles of stones, +and occasional patches of fallen snow. It is thoroughly exposed, the +winds always moaning mournfully around the buildings.... + +The trip begins at Martigny. First there is a level stretch, then a +long, steady climb, after which begins the real road to the pass. The +views are very lovely, and while quite different in some ways excel +all passes except the famous Simplon. The scenery is very varied, +the mountains are far enough off to give a good perspective, and the +villages are most picturesque. The absence of snow peaks in any great +number will be felt by some, but even a lover of such soon forgets the +lack in the exceeding beauty and loveliness of the valleys. + +Toward the top of the pass there is quite a transformation. Both the +road and the scenery change, the first becoming more and more steep +and stony, the latter showing more and more of savage grandeur, as the +green, smiling valleys are no longer seen, but in their place appear +barren and rugged rocks and slopes, with the marks of the ravages +wrought by storm, landslide and avalanche. The wind has fuller play +and seems to moan in a mournful, dirge-like manner, accentuating the +characteristics of bleakness and desolation which obtain at the top of +the pass, all the more noticeable if the traveler arrives at dusk, just +as the sun has disappeared behind the mountains. + +In this dreary place stands the hospice. The present buildings are not +very old, the hospice only dating from the sixteenth century and the +church from the seventeenth century, while the other structures, which +have been built for the accommodation of strangers are comparatively +new. Twelve monks of the Augustinian Order are regularly in residence +here. They come when about twenty years of age; but so severe is the +climate, so hard the life and so stern the rule that, after a service of +about fifteen years, they generally have to seek a lower altitude, often +ruined in health, with their powers completely sapped by the rigors and +privations which they have endured. Altho the hospice and the adjoining +hostelry for the travelers are cheerless in the extreme, there is always +a warm welcome from the monks. No one, however poor, is refused bed +and board for the night, and there is no "distinction of persons." +The hospitality is extended to all, free of charge, this being the +invariable rule of the institution, but it is expected, and rightly so, +that those who can do so will deposit a liberal offering in the box +provided for the purpose. The small receipts, however, show what a great +abuse there is of this hospitality, for a large number of those who come +in the summer could well afford to give and to give largely. + +We hear much of the courage and perseverance of Hannibal and Cæsar in +leading their armies over the Alps! We see pictures of Napoleon and his +soldiers as they toiled up the pass, dragging along their frozen guns, +and perhaps falling into a fatal sleep about their dying camp fires at +night! And we rightly admire such bravery, and thrill with admiration at +the tale. Yet those armies which crossed the Alps failed to equal the +heroic self-sacrifice of those soldiers of the cross, the Monks of the +Grand St. Bernard, who remain for years at their post, unknown and +unsung by the wide, wide world, simply to save and shelter the humble +travelers who come to grief in their winter journey across the pass, in +search of work. + + +AVALANCHES[60] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +Beside this dazzling, magnificent snow, covering the chain of lofty +peaks like an immaculate altar cloth, what a gloomy, dull look there +is in the snow of the plains! One might think it was made of sugar or +confectionery, that it was false like all the rest. + +To know what snow really is--to get quit of this feeling of artificial +snow that we have when we see the stunted shrubs in our Parisian gardens +wrapt, as it were, in silk paper like bits of Christmas trees--it must +be seen here in these far-off, high valleys of the Engandine, that lie +for eight months dead under their shroud of snow, and often, even in the +height of summer, have to shiver anew under some wintry flakes. + +It is here that snow is truly beautiful! It shines in the sun with a +dazzling whiteness; it sparkles with a thousand fires like diamond dust; +it shows gleams like the plumage of a white dove, and it is as firm +under the foot as a marble pavement. It is so fine-grained, so compact, +that it clings like dust to every crevice and bend, to every projecting +edge and point, and follows every outline of the mountain, the form of +which it leaves as clearly defined as if it were a covering of thin +gauze. It sports in the most charming decorations, carves alabaster +facings and cornices on the cliffs, wreathes them in delicate lace, +covers them with vast canopies of white satin spangled with stars and +fringed with silver. + +And yet this dry, hard snow is extremely susceptible to the slightest +shock, and may be set in motion by a very trifling disturbance of the +air. The flight of a bird, the cracking of a whip, the tinkling of +bells, even the conversation of persons going along sometimes suffices +to shake and loosen it from the vertical face of the cliffs to which it +is clinging; and it runs down like grains of sand, growing as it falls, +by drawing down with it other beds of snow. It is like a torrent, a +snowy waterfall, bursting out suddenly from the side of the mountain; +it rushes down with a terrible noise, swollen with the snows that it +carries down in its furious course; it breaks against the rocks, divides +and joins again like an overflowing stream, and with a wild tempest +blast resumes its desolating course, filling the echoes with the +deafening thunder of battle. + +You think for a moment that a storm has begun, but looking at the sky +you see it serenely blue, smiling, cloudless. The rush becomes more and +more violent; it comes nearer, the ground trembles, the trees bend and +break with a sharp crack; enormous stones and blocks of ice are carried +away like gravel; and the mighty avalanche, with a crash like a train +running off the rails over a precipice, drops to the foot of the +mountain, destroying, crushing down everything before it, and covering +the ground with a bed of snow from thirty to fifty feet deep. + +When a stream of water wears a passage for itself under this compact +mass, it is sometimes hollowed out into an arched way, and the snow +becomes so solid that carriages and horses can go through without +danger, even in the middle of summer. But often the water does not find +a course by which to flow away; and then, when the snow begins to melt, +the water seeps into the fissures, loosens the mass that chokes up the +valley, and carries it down, rending its banks as it goes, carrying away +bridges, mills, and trees, and overthrowing houses. The avalanche has +become an inundation. + +The mountaineers make a distinction between summer and winter +avalanches. The former are solid avalanches, formed of old snow that +has almost acquired the consistency of ice. The warm breath of spring +softens it, loosens it from the rocks on which it hangs, and it slides +down into the valleys. These are called "melting avalanches." They +regularly follow certain tracks, and these are embanked, like the course +of a river, with wood or bundles of branches. It is in order to protect +the alpine roads from these avalanches that those long open galleries +have been built on the face of the precipice. + +The most dreaded and most terrible avalanches, those of dry, powdery +snow, occur only in winter, when sudden squalls and hurricanes of +snow throw the whole atmosphere into chaos. They come down in sudden +whirlwinds, with the violence of a waterspout, and in a few minutes +whole villages are buried.... + +Here, in the Grisons, the whole village of Selva was buried under an +avalanche. Nothing remained visible but the top of the church steeple, +looking like a pole planted in the snow. Baron Munchausen might have +tied his horse there without inventing any lie about it. The Val +Verzasca was covered for several months by an avalanche of nearly 1,000 +feet in length and 50 in depth. All communication through the valley +was stopt; it was impossible to organize help; and the alarm-bell was +incessantly sounding over the immense white desolation like a knell for +the dead. + +In the narrow defile in which we now are, there are many remains of +avalanches that neither the water of the torrent nor the heat of the sun +has had power to melt. The bed of the river is strewn with displaced and +broken rocks, and great stones bound together by the snow as if with +cement; the surges dash against these rocky obstacles, foaming angrily, +with the blind fury of a wild beast. And the moan of the powerless water +flows on into the depth of the valley, and is lost far off in a hollow +murmur. + + +HUNTING THE CHAMOIS[61] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +Schmidt swept with his cap the snow which covered the stones on which +we were to seat ourselves for breakfast, then unpacked the provisions; +slices of veal and ham, hard-boiled eggs, wine of the Valtelline. His +knapsack, covered with a napkin, served for our table. While we sat, we +devoured the landscape, the twelve glaciers spreading around us their +carpet of swansdown and ermine, sinking into crevasses of a magical +transparency, and raising their blocks, shaped into needles, or into +Gothic steeples with pierced arches. The architecture of the glacier is +marvelous. Its decorations are the decorations of fairyland. Quite near +us marks of animals in the snow attracted our attention. Schmidt said to +us: + +"Chamois have been here this morning; the traces are quite fresh. They +must have seen us and made off; the chamois are as distrustful, you see, +as the marmots, and as wary. At this season they keep on the glaciers by +preference. They live on so little! A few herbs, a few mosses, such as +grow on isolated rocks like this. I assure you it is very amusing to see +a herd of twenty or thirty chamois cross at a headlong pace a vast field +of snow, or glacier, where they bound over the crevasses in play. + +"One would say they were reindeers in a Lapland scene. It is only at +night that they come down into the valleys. In the moonlight they come +out of the moraines, and go to pasture on the grassy slopes or in the +forest adjoining the glaciers. During the day they go up again into the +snow, for which they have an extraordinary love, and in which they skip +and play, amusing themselves like a band of scholars in play hours. +They tease one another, butt with their horns in fun, run off, +return, pretend new attacks and new flights with charming agility and +frolicsomeness. + +"While the young ones give themselves up to their sports, an old female, +posted as sentinel at some yards distance, watches the valley and scents +the air. At the slightest indication of danger, she utters a sharp cry; +the games cease instantly, and the whole anxious troop assembles round +the guardian, then the whole herd sets off at a gallop and disappears in +the twinkling of an eye.... + +"Hunting on the névés and the glaciers is very dangerous. When the snow +is fresh it is with difficulty one can advance. The hunters use wooden +snowshoes, like those of the Esquimaux. + +"One of my comrades, in hunting on the Roseg, disappeared in the bottom +of a crevasse. It was over thirty feet deep. Imagine two perfectly +smooth sides; two walls of crystal. To reascend was impossible. It was +certain death, either from cold or hunger; for it was known that when he +went chamois-hunting he was often absent for several days. He could not +therefore count on help being sent; he must resign himself to death. + +"One thing, however, astonished him; it was to find so little water in +the bottom of the crevasse. Could there be then an opening at the bottom +of the funnel into which he had fallen? He stooped, examined this grave +in which he had been buried alive, discovered that the heat of the sun +had caused the base of the glacier to melt. A canal drainage had been +formed. Laying himself flat, he slid into this dark passage, and after +a thousand efforts he arrived at the end of the glacier in the moraine, +safe and sound." + +We had finished breakfast. We wanted something warm, a little coffee. +Schmidt set up our spirit-lamp behind two great stones that protected it +from the wind. And while we waited for the water to boil, he related to +us the story of Colani, the legendary hunter of the upper Engandine. + +"Colani, in forty years, killed two thousand seven hundred chamois. This +strange man had carved out for himself a little kingdom in the mountain. +He claimed to reign there alone, to be absolute master. When a stranger +penetrated into his residence, within the domain of 'his reserved +hunting-ground,' as he called the regions of the Bernina, he treated him +as a poacher, and chased him with a gun.... + +"Colani was feared and dreaded as a diabolical and supernatural +being; and indeed he took no pains to undeceive the public, for the +superstitious terrors inspired by his person served to keep away all the +chamois-hunters from his chamois, which he cared for and managed as a +great lord cares for the deer in his forests. Round the little house +which he had built for himself on the Col de Bernina, and where he +passed the summer and autumn, two hundred chamois, almost tame, might be +seen wandering about and browsing. Every year he killed about fifty old +males." + + +THE CELEBRITIES OF GENEVA[62] + +BY FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE + +It has been remarked as curious that the Age of Revolution at Geneva +was also the Golden Age--if not of Genevan literature, which has never +really had any Golden Age, at least of Genevan science, which was of +world-wide renown. + +The period is one in which notable names meet us at every turn. There +were exiled Genevans, like de Lolme, holding their own in foreign +political and intellectual circles; there were emigrant Genevan pastors +holding aloft the lamps of culture and piety in many cities of England, +France, Russia, Germany, and Denmark; there were Genevans, like François +Lefort, holding the highest offices in the service of foreign rulers; +and there were numbers of Genevans at Geneva of whom the cultivated +grand tourist wrote in the tone of a disciple writing of his master. One +can not glance at the history of the period without lighting upon names +of note in almost all departments of endeavor. The period is that of +de Saussure, Bourrit, the de Lucs, the two Hubers, great authorities +respectively on bees and birds; Le Sage, who was one of Gibbon's rivals +for the heart of Mademoiselle Suzanne Curchod; Senebier, the librarian +who wrote the first literary history of Geneva; St. Ours and Arlaud, +the painters; Charles Bonnet, the entomologist; Bérenger and Picot, +the historians; Tronchin, the physician; Trembley and Jallabert, the +mathematicians; Dentan, minister and Alpine explorer; Pictet, the editor +of the "Bibliothèque Universelle," still the leading Swiss literary +review; and Odier, who taught Geneva the virtue of vaccination. + +It is obviously impossible to dwell at length upon the careers of all +these eminent men. As well might one attempt, in a survey on the same +scale of English literature, to discuss in detail the careers of all the +celebrities of the age of Anne. One can do little more than remark that +the list is marvelously strong for a town of some 30,000 inhabitants, +and that many of the names included in it are not only eminent, but +interesting. Jean André de Luc, for example, has a double claim upon our +attention as the inventor of the hygrometer and as the pioneer of the +snow-peaks. He climbed the Buet as early as 1770, and wrote an account +of his adventures on its summit and its slopes which has the true charm +of Arcadian simplicity. He came to England, was appointed reader to +Queen Charlotte, and lived in the enjoyment of that office, and in the +gratifying knowledge that Her Majesty kept his presentation hygrometer +in her private apartments, to the venerable age of ninety. + +Bourrit is another interesting character--being, in fact, the spiritual +ancestor of the modern Alpine Clubman. By profession he was Precentor +of the Cathedral; but his heart was in the mountains. In the summer he +climbed them, and in the winter he wrote books about them. One of +his books was translated into English; and the list of subscribers, +published with the translation, shows that the public which Bourrit +addrest included Edmund Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Bartolozzi, Fanny +Burney, Angelica Kauffman, David Garrick, Sir Joshua Reynolds, George +Augustus Selwyn, Jonas Hanway and Dr. Johnson. His writings earned him +the honorable title of Historian (or Historiographer) of the Alps. Men +of science wrote him letters; princes engaged upon the grand tour called +to see him; princesses sent him presents as tokens of their admiration +and regard for the man who had taught them how the contemplation of +mountain scenery might exalt the sentiments of the human mind. + +Tronchin, too, is interesting; he was the first physician who recognized +the therapeutic use of fresh air and exercise, hygienic boots, and +open windows. So is Charle Bonnet, who was not afraid to stand up +for orthodoxy against Voltaire; so is Mallet, who traveled as far as +Lapland; and so is that man of whom his contemporaries always spoke, +with the reverence of hero-worshipers, as "the illustrious de +Saussure."... + +The name of which the Genevans are proudest is probably that of +Rousseau, who has sometimes been spoken of as "the austere citizen of +Geneva." But "austere" is a strange epithet to apply to the philosopher +who endowed the Foundling Hospital with five illegitimate children; and +Geneva can not claim a great share in a citizen who ran away from the +town of his boyhood to avoid being thrashed for stealing apples. It +was, indeed, at Geneva that Jean Jacques received from his aunt the +disciplinary chastisement of which he gives such an exciting account in +his "Confessions"; and he once returned to the city and received the +Holy Communion there in later life. But that is all. Jean Jacques was +not educated at Geneva, but in Savoy--at Annecy, at Turin, and at +Chambéry; his books were not printed at Geneva, tho' one of them was +publicly burned there, but in Paris and Amsterdam; it is not to Genevan +but to French literature that he belongs. + +We must visit Voltaire at Ferney, and Madame de Staël at Coppet. Let the +patriarch come first. Voltaire was sixty years of age when he settled +on the shores of the lake, where he was to remain for another +four-and-twenty years; and he did not go there for his pleasure. He +would have preferred to live in Paris, but was afraid of being locked +up in the Bastille. As the great majority of the men of letters of +the reign of Louis XV. were, at one time or another, locked up in the +Bastille, his fears were probably well founded. + +Moreover, notes of warning had reached his ears. "I dare not ask you to +dine," a relative said to him, "because you are in bad odor at Court." +So he betook himself to Geneva, as so many Frenchmen, illustrious +and otherwise, had done before, and acquired various properties--at +Prangins, at Lausanne, at Saint-Jean (near Geneva), at Ferney, at +Tournay, and elsewhere. + +He was welcomed cordially. Dr. Tronchin, the eminent physician, +cooperated in the legal fictions necessary to enable him to become a +landowner in the republic. Cramer, the publisher, made a proposal for +the issue of a complete and authorized edition of his works. All the +best people called. "It is very pleasant," he was able to write, "to +live in a country where rulers borrow your carriage to come to dinner +with you." + +Voltaire corresponded regularly with at least four reigning sovereigns, +to say nothing of men of letters, Cardinals, and Marshals of France; +and he kept open house for travelers of mark from every country in the +world. Those of the travelers who wrote books never failed to devote a +chapter to an account of a visit to Ferney; and from the mass of such +descriptions we may select for quotation that written, in the stately +style of the period, by Dr. John Moore, author of "Zeluco," then making +the grand tour as tutor to the Duke of Hamilton. + +"The most piercing eyes I ever beheld," the doctor writes, "are those of +Voltaire, now in his eightieth year. His whole countenance is expressive +of genius, observation, and extreme sensibility. In the morning he has a +look of anxiety and discontent; but this gradually wears off, and after +dinner he seems cheerful; yet an air of irony never entirely forsakes +his face, but may always be observed lurking in his features whether he +frowns or smiles. Composition is his principal amusement. No author who +writes for daily bread, no young poet ardent for distinction, is more +assiduous with his pen, or more anxious for fresh fame, than the wealthy +and applauded Seigneur of Ferney. He lives in a very hospitable manner, +and takes care always to have a good cook. He generally has two or three +visitors from Paris, who stay with him a month or six weeks at a time. +When they go, their places are soon supplied, so that there is a +constant rotation of society at Ferney. These, with Voltaire's own +family and his visitors from Geneva, compose a company of twelve or +fourteen people, who dine daily at his table, whether he appears or not. +All who bring recommendations from his friends may depend upon being +received, if he be not really indisposed. He often presents himself to +the strangers who assemble every afternoon in his ante-chamber, altho +they bring no particular recommendation." + +It might have been added that when an interesting stranger who carried +no introduction was passing through the town, Voltaire sometimes sent +for him; but this experiment was not always a success, and failed most +ludicrously in the case of Claude Gay, the Philadelphian Quaker, author +of some theological works now forgotten, but then of note. The meeting +was only arranged with difficulty on the philosopher's undertaking to +put a bridle on his tongue, and say nothing flippant about holy things. +He tried to keep his promise, but the temptation was too strong for him. +After a while he entangled his guest in a controversy concerning the +proceedings of the patriarchs and the evidences of Christianity, and +lost his temper on finding that his sarcasms failed to make their usual +impression. The member of the Society of Friends, however, was not +disconcerted. He rose from his place at the dinner-table, and replied: +"Friend Voltaire! perhaps thou mayst come to understand these matters +rightly; in the meantime, finding I can do thee no good, I leave thee, +and so fare thee well." + +And so saying, he walked out and walked back to Geneva, while Voltaire +retired in dudgeon to his room, and the company sat expecting something +terrible to happen. + +A word, in conclusion, about Coppet! + +Necker[63] bought the property from his old banking partner, Thelusson, +for 500,000 livres in French money, and retired to live there when the +French Revolution drove him out of politics. His daughter, Madame de +Staël, inherited it from him, and made it famous. + +Not that she loved Switzerland; it would be more true to say that she +detested Switzerland. Swiss scenery meant nothing to her. When she was +taken for an excursion to the glaciers, she asked what the crime was +that she had to expiate by such a punishment; and she could look out on +the blue waters of Lake Leman, and sigh for "the gutter of the Rue du +Bac." Even to this day, the Swiss have hardly forgiven her for that, or +for speaking of the Canton of Vaud as the country in which she had been +"so intensely bored for such a number of years." + +What she wanted was to live in Paris, to be a leader--or, rather, to be +"the" leader--of Parisian society, to sit in a salon, the admired of +all admirers, and to pull the wires of politics to the advantage of +her friends. For a while she succeeded in doing this. It was she who +persuaded Barras to give Talleyrand his political start in life. But +whereas Barras was willing to act on her advice, Napoleon was by no +means equally amenable to her influence. Almost from the first he +regarded her as a mischief-maker; and when a spy brought him an +intercepted letter in which Madame de Staël exprest her hope that none +of the old aristocracy of France would condescend to accept appointments +in the household of "the bourgeois of Corsica," he became her personal +enemy, and, refusing her permission to live either in the capital or +near it, practically compelled her to take refuge in her country seat. +Her pleasance in that way became her gilded cage. + +Perhaps she was not quite so unhappy there as she sometimes represented. +If she could not go to Paris, many distinguished and brilliant Parisians +came to Coppet, and met there many brilliant and distinguished Germans, +Genevans, Italians, and Danes. The Parisian salon, reconstituted, +flourished on Swiss soil. There visited there, at one time or another, +Madame Récamier and Madame Krüdner; Benjamin Constant, who was so +long Madame de Staël's lover; Bonstetten, the Voltairean philosopher; +Frederika Brun, the Danish artist; Sismondi, the historian; Werner, the +German poet; Karl Ritter, the German geographer; Baron de Voght; Monti, +the Italian poet: Madame Vigée Le Brun; Cuvier; and Oelenschlaeger. From +almost every one of them we have some pen-and-ink sketch of the life +there. This, for instance, is the scene as it appeared to Madame Le +Brun, who came to paint the hostess's portrait: + +"I paint her in antique costume. She is not beautiful, but the animation +of her visage takes the place of beauty. To aid the expression I wished +to give her, I entreated her to recite tragic verses while I painted. +She declaimed passages from Corneille and Racine. I find many persons +established at Coppet: the beautiful Madame Récamier, the Comte de +Sabran, a young English woman, Benjamin Constant, etc. Its society is +continually renewed. They come to visit the illustrious exile who is +pursued by the rancor of the Emperor. Her two sons are now with her, +under the instruction of the German scholar Schlegel; her daughter is +very beautiful, and has a passionate love of study; she leaves her +company free all the morning, but they unite in the evening. It is only +after dinner that they can converse with her. She then walks in her +salon, holding in her hand a little green branch; and her words have an +ardor quite peculiar to her; it is impossible to interrupt her. At these +times she produces on one the effect of an improvisation." + +And here is a still more graphic description, taken from a letter +written to Madame Récamier by Baron de Voght: + +"It is to you that I owe my most amiable reception at Coppet. It is no +doubt to the favorable expectations aroused by your friendship that I +owe my intimate acquaintance with this remarkable woman. I might have +met her without your assistance--some casual acquaintance would no doubt +have introduced me--but I should never have penetrated to the intimacy +of this sublime and beautiful soul, and should never have known how much +better she is than her reputation. She is an angel sent from heaven to +reveal the divine goodness upon earth. To make her irresistible, a pure +ray of celestial light embellishes her spirit and makes her amiable from +every point of view. + +"At once profound and light, whether she is discovering a mysterious +secret of the soul or grasping the lightest shadow of a sentiment, +her genius shines without dazzling, and when the orb of light has +disappeared, it leaves a pleasant twilight to follow it.... No doubt +a few faults, a few weaknesses, occasionally veil this celestial +apparition; even the initiated must sometimes be troubled by these +eclipses, which the Genevan astronomers in vain endeavor to predict. + +"My travels so far have been limited to journeys to Lausanne and +Coppet, where I often stay three or four days. The life there suits me +perfectly; the company is even more to my taste. I like Constant's +wit, Schlegel's learning, Sabran's amiability, Sismondi's talent and +character, the simple truthful disposition and just intellectual +perceptions of Auguste,[64] the wit and sweetness of Albertine[65]--I +was forgetting Bonstetten, an excellent fellow, full of knowledge of +all sorts, ready in wit, adaptable in character--in every way inspiring +one's respect and confidence. + +"Your sublime friend looks and gives life to everything. She imparts +intelligence to those around her. In every corner of the house some +one is engaged in composing a great work.... Corinne is writing her +delightful letters about Germany, which will, no doubt, prove to be the +best thing she has ever done. + +"The 'Shunamitish Widow,' an Oriental melodrama which she has just +finished, will be played in October; it is charming. Coppet will be +flooded with tears. Constant and Auguste are both composing tragedies; +Sabran is writing a comic opera, and Sismondi a history; Schlegel is +translating something; Bonstetten is busy with philosophy, and I am busy +with my letter to Juliette." + +Then, a month later: + +"Since my last letter, Madame de Staël has read us several chapters of +her work. Everywhere it bears the marks of her talent. I wish I could +persuade her to cut out everything in it connected with politics, and +all the metaphors which interfere with its clarity, simplicity, and +accuracy. What she needs to demonstrate is not her republicanism, but +her wisdom. Mlle. Jenner played in one of Werner's tragedies which was +given, last Friday, before an audience of twenty. She, Werner, and +Schlegel played perfectly.... + +"The arrival in Switzerland of M. Cuvier has been a happy distraction +for Madame de Staël; they spent two days together at Geneva, and +were well pleased with each other. On her return to Coppet she found +Middleton there, and in receiving his confidences forgot her troubles. +Yesterday she resumed her work. + +"The poet whose mystical and somber genius has caused us such profound +emotions starts, in a few days' time, for Italy. + +"I accompanied Corinne to Massot's. To alleviate the tedium of the +sitting, a Mlle. Romilly played pleasantly on the harp, and the studio +was a veritable temple of the Muses.... + +"Bonstetten gave us two readings of a Memoir on the Northern Alps. It +began very well, but afterward it bored us. Madame de Staël resumed her +reading, and there was no longer any question of being bored. It is +marvelous how much she must have read and thought over to be able to +find the opportunity of saying so many good things. One may differ from +her, but one can not help delighting in her talent.... + +"And now here we are at Geneva, trying to reproduce Coppet at the Hôtel +des Balances. I am delightfully situated with a wide view over the +Valley of Savoy, between the Alps and the Jura. + +"Yesterday evening the illusion of Coppet was complete. I had been with +Madame de Staël to call on Madame Rilliet, who is so charming at her own +fireside. On my return I played chess with Sismondi. Madame de Staël, +Mlle. Randall, and Mlle. Jenner sat on the sofa chatting with Bonstetten +and young Barante. We were as we had always been--as we were in the days +that I shall never cease regretting." + +Other descriptions exist in great abundance, but these suffice to +serve our purpose. They show us the Coppet salon as it was pleasant, +brilliant, unconventional; something like Holland House, but more +Bohemian; something like Harley Street, but more select; something like +Gad's Hill--which it resembled in the fact that the members of the +house-parties were expected to spend their mornings at their desks--but +on a higher social plane; a center at once of high thinking and +frivolous behavior; of hard work and desperate love-making, which +sometimes paved the way to trouble. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 2: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 3: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 4: The modern Marseilles.] + +[Footnote 5: An ancient Italian town on the Adriatic, founded by +Syracusans about 300 B.C. and still an important seaport.] + +[Footnote 6: The city in Provence where have survived a beautiful Roman +arch and a stupendous Roman theater in which classical plays are still +given each year by actors from the Theatre Français.] + +[Footnote 7: Diocletian.] + +[Footnote 8: A reference to the exquisite Maison Carrée of Nîmes.] + +[Footnote 9: That is, of Venice.] + +[Footnote 10: The famous general of the Emperor Justinian, reputed to +have become blind and been neglected in his old age.] + +[Footnote 11: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 12: From "Through Savage Europe." Published by J.B. Lippincott +Co.] + +[Footnote 13: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 14: That is, lands where the Greek Church prevails.] + +[Footnote 15: John Mason Neale, author of "An Introduction to the +History of the Holy Eastern Church."] + +[Footnote 16: Montenegro.] + +[Footnote 17: From "A Girl in the Karpathians." After publishing this +book. Miss Dowie became the wife of Henry Norman, the author and +traveler.] + +[Footnote 18: One of Poland's greatest poets.] + +[Footnote 19: From "Views Afoot." Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.] + +[Footnote 20: The population now (1914) is 24,000.] + +[Footnote 21: From "Six Months in Italy." Published by Houghton, Mifflin +Co.] + +[Footnote 22: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque +Tour," published in 1821.] + +[Footnote 23: From "Letters of a Traveller." The Tyrol and the Dolomites +being mainly Austrian territory, are here included under "Other Austrian +Scenes." Resorts in the Swiss Alps, including Chamouni (which, however, +is in France), will be found further on in this volume.] + +[Footnote 24: An Italian poet (1749-1838), who, banished from Venice, +settled in New York and became Professor of Italian at Columbia +College.] + +[Footnote 25: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 26: In the village of Cadore--hence the name, Titian da +Cadore.] + +[Footnote 27: From "Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: A +Midsummer Ramble in the Dolomites." Published by E.P. Dutton & Co.] + +[Footnote 28: Reaumur.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 29: From "My Alpine Jubilee." Published In 1908.] + +[Footnote 30: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs Company, Philadelphia.] + +[Footnote 31: Since the above was written, the railway has been extended +up the Jungfrau itself.] + +[Footnote 32: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 33: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 34: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 35: The population in 1902 had risen to 152,000.] + +[Footnote 36: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 37: From "The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley." Politically, +Chamouni is in France, but the aim here has been to bring into one +volume all the more popular Alpine resorts. Articles on the Tyrol and +the Dolomites will also be found in this volume--under "Other Austrian +Scenes."] + +[Footnote 38: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 39: For Mr. Whymper's own account of this famous ascent, see +page 127 of this volume.] + +[Footnote 40: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 41: From "Geneva."] + +[Footnote 42: From "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands."] + +[Footnote 43: Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had been published about +a year when this remark was made to her.] + + +[Footnote 44: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 45: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 46: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's later +achievements in the Alps are now integral parts of the written history +of notable mountain climbing feats the world over.] + +[Footnote 47: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's ascent +of the Matterhorn was made in 1865. It was the first ascent ever made so +far as known. Whymper died at Chamouni in 1911.] + +[Footnote 48: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." The loss of Douglas and +three other men, as here described, occurred during the descent of +the Matterhorn following the ascent described by Mr. Whymper in the +preceding article.] + +[Footnote 49: That is, down in the village of Zermatt. Seiler was a +well-known innkeeper of that time. Other Seilers still keep inns at +Zermatt.] + +[Footnote 50: The body of Douglas has never been recovered. It is +believed to lie buried deep in some crevasse in one of the great +glaciers that emerge from the base of the Matterhorn.] + +[Footnote 51: From "The Glaciers of the Alps." Prof. Tyndall made this +ascent in 1858. Monte Rosa stands quite near the Matterhorn. Each is +reached from Zermatt by the Gorner-Grat.] + +[Footnote 52: Another name for the Matterhorn.] + +[Footnote 53: My staff was always the handle of an ax an inch or two +longer than an ordinary walking-stick.--Author's note.] + + +[Footnote 54: From "The Glaciers of the Alps."] + +[Footnote 55: That is, after having ascended the mountain to a point +some distance beyond the Mer de Glace, to which the party had ascended +from Chamouni, Huxley and Tyndall were both engaged in a study of the +causes of the movement of glaciers, but Tyndall gave it most attention. +One of Tyndall's feats in the Alps was to make the first recorded ascent +of the Weisshorn. It is said that "traces of his influence remain in +Switzerland to this day."] + +[Footnote 56: A hotel overlooking the Mer de Glace and a headquarters +for mountaineers now as then.] + +[Footnote 57: Those acquainted with the mountain will at once recognize +the grave error here committed. In fact, on starting from the Grands +Mulets we had crossed the glacier too far, and throughout were much too +close to the Dôme du Goûté.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 58: From "The Playground of Europe." Published by Longmans, +Green & Co.] + +[Footnote 59: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by the George W. +Jacob Co.] + +[Footnote 60: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 61: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 62: From "Geneva."] + +[Footnote 63: The French financier and minister of Louis XVI., father of +Madame de Staël.] + +[Footnote 64: Madame de Staël's son, who afterward edited the works of +Madame de Staël and Madame Necker.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 65: Madame de Staël's daughter, afterward Duchesse de +Broglie.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, +Volume VI, by Various + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 11179 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82e00cc --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #11179 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/11179) diff --git a/old/11179-8.txt b/old/11179-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..82193f5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/11179-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5789 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume VI, by Various + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume VI + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11179] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEEING EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +SEEING EUROPE WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS + +EDITED BY FRANCIS W. HALSEY + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI + +Germany, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland + +Part Two + + +VI. HUNGARY--(_Continued_) + +HUNGARIAN BATHS AND RESORTS--By H. Tornai de Kvr + +THE GIPSIES--By H. Tornai de Kvr + + +VII. AUSTRIA'S ADRIATIC PORTS + +TRIESTE AND POLA--By Edward A. Freeman + +SPALATO--By Edward A. Freeman + +RAGUSA--By Harry De Windt + +CATTARO--By Edward A. Freeman + + +VIII. OTHER AUSTRIAN SCENES + +CRACOW--By Mnie Muriel Dowie + +ON THE ROAD TO PRAGUE--By Bayard Taylor + +THE CAVE OF ADELSBERG--By George Stillman Hillard + +THE MONASTERY OF MLK--By Thomas Frognall Dibdin + +THROUGH THE TYROL--By William Cullen Bryant + +IN THE DOLOMITES--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +CORTINA--By Amelia B. Edwards + + +IX. ALPINE RESORTS + +THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS--By Frederick Harrison + +INTERLAKEN AND THE JUNGFRAU--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +THE ALTDORF OF WILLIAM TELL--By W.D. M'Crackan + +LUCERNE--By Victor Tissot + +ZURICH--By W.D. M'Crackan + +THE RIGI--By W.D. M'Crackan + +CHAMOUNI--AN AVALANCHE--By Percy Bysshe Shelley + +ZERMATT--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +PONTRESINA AND ST. MORITZ--By Victor Tissot + +GENEVA--By Francis H. Gribble + +THE CASTLE OF CHILLON--By Harriet Beecher Stowe + +BY RAIL UP THE GORNER-GRAT--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +THROUGH THE ST. GOTHARD INTO ITALY--By Victor Tissot + + +X. ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING + +FIRST ATTEMPTS HALF A CENTURY AGO--By Edward Whymper + +FIRST TO THE TOP O THE MATTERHORN--By Edward Whymper + +THE LORD FRANCIS DOUGLAS TRAGEDY--By Edward Whymper + +AN ASCENT OF MONTE ROSA (1858)--By John Tyndall + +MONT BLANC ASCENDED, HUXLEY GOING PART WAY--By John Tyndall + +THE JUNGFRAU-JOCH--By Sir Leslie Stephen + + +XI. OTHER ALPINE TOPICS + +THE GREAT ST. BERNARD HOSPICE--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +AVALANCHES--By Victor Tissot + +HUNTING THE CHAMOIS--By Victor Tissot + +THE CELEBRITIES OF GENEVA--By Francis H. Gribble + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME VI + + Frontispiece + THE MATTERHORN + + KURSAAL AT MARIENBAD + + MARIENBAD, AUSTRIA + + MONASTERY OF ST. ULRIC AND AFRA, AUGSBURG + + MONASTERY OF MLK ON THE DANUBE ABOVE VIENNA + + MEMORIAL TABLET AND ROAD IN THE IRON GATE OF THE DANUBE + + QUAY AT FIUME + + ROYAL PALACE IN BUDAPEST + + HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BUDAPEST + + SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE AT BUDAPEST + + STREET IN BUDAPEST + + CATHEDRAL OF SPALATO + + REGUSA, DALMATIA + + MIRAMAR + + GENEVA + + REGATTA DAY ON LAKE GENEVA + + VITZNAU, THE LAKE TERMINUS OF THE RIGI RAILROAD + + RHINE FALLS NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN + + PONTRESINA IN THE ENGADINE + + ST. MORITZ IN THE ENGADINE + + FRIBOURG + + BERNE + + VIVEY, LAKE GENEVA + + THE TURNHALLE, ZURICH + + INTERLAKEN + + LUCERNE + + VIADUCTS ON AN ALPINE RAILWAY + + THE WOLFORT VIADUCT + + BALMAT--SAUSSURE MONUMENT IN CHAMONIX + + ROOFED WOODEN BRIDGE AT LUCERNE + + THE CASTLE OF CHILLON + + CLOUD EFFECT ABOVE INTERLAKEN + + DAVOS IN WINTER + + + [Illustration: THE KURSAL AT MARIENBAD] + + [Illustration: MARIENBAD, AUSTRIA] + + [Illustration: THE MONASTERY OF ST. ULRIC AND AFRA, AT AUGSBURG + IN BAVARIA] + + [Illustration: THE MONASTERY OF MLK ON THE DANUBE ABOVE VIENNA] + + [Illustration: MEMORIAL TABLET AND ROAD IN THE IRON GATE + OF THE DANUBE] + + [Illustration: THE QUAY OF THE FIUME AT THE HEAD OF THE ADRIATIC] + + [Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: STREET IN BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF SPALATO + Burial-place of the Emperor Diocletian] + + [Illustration: REGUSA, DALMATIA] + + [Illustration: MIRAMAR + Long the home of the ex-Empress Carlotta of Mexico] + + [Illustration: GENEVA] + + [Illustration: REGATTA DAY ON LAKE GENEVA] + + [Illustration: VITZNAU, THE LAKE TERMINUS OF THE RIGI RAILROAD] + + [Illustration: THE RHINE FALLS NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN] + + + +VI + + + +HUNGARY + +(_Continued_) + +HUNGARIAN BATHS AND RESORTS[1] + +BY H. TORNAI DE KVR + +In Hungary there are great quantities of unearthed riches, and not only +in the form of gold. These riches are the mineral waters that abound in +the country and have been the natural medicine of the people for many +years. Water in itself was always worshiped by the Hungarians in the +earliest ages, and they have found out through experience for which +ailment the different waters may be used. There are numbers of small +watering-places in the most primitive state, which are visited by the +peasants from far and wide, more especially those that are good for +rheumatism. + +Like all people that work much in the open, the Hungarian in old age +feels the aching of his limbs. The Carpathians are full of such baths, +some of them quite primitive; others are used more as summer resorts, +where the well-to-do town people build their villas; others, again, +like Ttra Fred, Ttra Lomnicz, Csorba, and many others, have every +accommodation and are visited by people from all over Europe. In former +times Germans and Poles were the chief visitors, but now people come +from all parts to look at the wonderful ice-caves (where one can skate +in the hottest summer), the waterfalls, and the great pine forests, and +make walking, driving, and riding tours right up to the snow-capped +mountains, preferring the comparative quiet of this Alpine district to +that of Switzerland. Almost every place has some special mineral water, +and among the greatest wonders of Hungary are the hot mud-baths of +Pstyn. + +This place is situated at the foot of the lesser Carpathians, and is +easily reached from the main line of the railway. The scenery is lovely +and the air healthy, but this is nothing compared to the wondrous waters +and hot mire which oozes out of the earth in the vicinity of the river +Vg. Hot sulfuric water, which contains radium, bubbles up in all parts +of Pstyn, and even the bed of the cold river is full of steaming +hot mud. As far back as 1551 we know of the existence of Pstyn as a +natural cure, and Sir Spencer Wells, the great English doctor, wrote +about these waters in 1888. They are chiefly good for rheumatism, gout, +neuralgia, the strengthening of broken bones, strains, and also for +scrofula. + +On the premises there is a quaint museum with crutches and all sort of +sticks and invalid chairs left there by their former owners in grateful +acknowledgment of the wonderful waters and mire that had healed them. Of +late there has been much comfort added; great new baths have been built, +villas and new hotels added, so that there is accommodation for rich +and poor alike. The natural heat of the mire is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. +Plenty of amusements are supplied for those who are not great +sufferers--tennis, shooting, fishing, boating, and swimming being all +obtainable. The bathing-place and all the adjoining land belongs to +Count Erddy. + +Another place of the greatest importance is the little bath "Pard," +hardly three hours from Budapest, situated in the heart of the mountains +of the "Mtra." It is the private property of Count Krlyi. The place +is primitive and has not even electric light. Its waters are a wonderful +combination of iron and alkaline, but this is not the most important +feature. Besides the baths there is a strong spring of arsenic water +which, through a fortunate combination, is stronger and more digestible +than Roncegno and all the other first-rate waters of that kind in the +world. + +Not only in northern Hungary does one find wondrous cures, it is the +same in Transylvania. There are healing and splendid mineral waters for +common use all over the country lying idle and awaiting the days when +its owners will be possest by the spirit of enterprise. Borszek, +Szovta, and many others are all wonders in their way, waters that would +bring in millions to their owners if only worked properly. Szovta, +boasts of a lake containing such an enormous proportion of salt that not +even the human body can sink into its depths. + +In the south there is Herkulesfrd, renowned as much for the beauty of +its scenery as for its waters. Besides those mentioned there are all +the summer pleasure resorts; the best of these are situated along Lake +Balaton. The tepid water, long sandbanks, and splendid air from the +forests make them specially healthy for delicate children. But not only +have the bathing-places beautiful scenery from north to south and from +east to west, in general the country abounds in Alpine districts, +waterfalls, caves, and other wonders of nature. The most beautiful +tour is along the river Vg, starting from the most northerly point in +Hungary near the beautiful old stronghold of rva in the county of rva. + +All those that care to see a country as it really is, and do not mind +going out of the usual beaten track of the globe-trotter, should go down +the river Vg. It can not be done by steamer, or any other comfortable +contrivance, one must do it on a raft, as the rapids of the river are +not to be passed by any other means. The wood is transported in this +way from the mountain regions to the south, and for two days one passes +through the most beautiful scenery. Fantastic castles loom at the top of +mountain peaks, and to each castle is attached a page of the history of +the Middle Ages, when the great noblemen were also the greatest robbers +of the land, and the people were miserable serfs, who did all the work +and were taxed and robbed by their masters. Castles, wild mountain +districts, rugged passes, villages, and ruins are passed like a +beautiful panorama. The river rushes along, foaming and dashing over +sharp rocks. The people are reliable and very clever in handling the +raft, which requires great skill, especially when conducted over the +falls at low water. Sometimes there is only one little spot where the +raft can pass, and to conduct it over those rapids requires absolute +knowledge of every rock hidden under the shallow falls. If notice is +given in time, a rude hut will be built on the raft to give shelter +and make it possible to have meals cooked, altho in the simplest way +(consisting of baked potatoes and stew), by the Slavs who are in charge +of the raft. If anything better is wanted it must be ordered by stopping +at the larger towns; but to have it done in the simple way is entering +into the true spirit of the voyage. + + +THE GIPSIES[2] + +BY H. TORNAI DE KVR + +Gipsies! Music! Dancing! These are words of magic to the rich and poor, +noblemen and peasant alike, if he be a true Hungarian. There are two +kinds of gipsies. The wandering thief, who can not be made to take up +any occupation. These are a terribly lawless and immoral people, and +there seems to be no way of altering their life and habits, altho much +has been written on the subject to improve matters; but the Government +has shown itself to be helpless as yet. These people live here and +there, in fact everywhere, leading a wandering life in carts, and camp +wherever night overtakes them. After some special evil-doing they will +wander into Rumania or Russia and come back after some years when the +deed of crime has been forgotten. Their movements are so quick and +silent that they outwit the best detectives of the police force. They +speak the gipsy language, but often a half-dozen other languages +besides, in their peculiar chanting voice. Their only occupation is +stealing, drinking, smoking, and being a nuisance to the country in +every way. + +The other sort of gipsies consist of those that have squatted down in +the villages some hundreds of years ago. They live in a separate part of +the village, usually at the end, are dirty and untidy and even an unruly +people, but for the most part have taken up some honest occupation. +They make the rough, unbaked earth bricks that the peasant cottages are +mostly made of, are tinkers and blacksmiths, but they do the lowest kind +of work too. Besides these, however, there are the talented ones. The +musical gipsy begins to handle his fiddle as soon as he can toddle. +The Hungarians brought their love of music with them from Asia. Old +parchments have been found which denote that they had their songs and +war-chants at the time of the "home-making," and church and folk-songs +from their earliest Christian period. Peasant and nobleman are musical +alike--it runs in the race. The gipsies that have settled among them +caught up the love of music and are now the best interpreters of the +Hungarian songs. The people have got so used to their "blackies," as +they call them, that no lesser or greater fte day can pass without +the gipsy band having ample work to do in the form of playing for the +people. Their instruments are the fiddle, 'cello, viola, clarinet, +trogato (a Hungarian specialty), and, above all, the cymbal. The +trogato looks like a grand piano with the top off. It stands on four +legs like a table and has wires drawn across it; on these wires the +player performs with two little sticks, that are padded at the ends +with cotton-wool. The sound is wild and weird, but if well played very +beautiful indeed. The gipsies seldom compose music. The songs come into +life mostly on the spur of the moment. In the olden days war-songs and +long ballads were the most usual form of music. The seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries were specially rich in the production of songs that +live even now. At that time the greatest gipsy musician was a woman: her +name was "Czinka Panna," and she was called the Gipsy Queen. With the +change of times the songs are altered too, and now they are mostly +lyric. Csrds is the quick form of music, and tho' of different +melodies it must always be kept to the same rhythm. This is not much +sung to, but is the music for the national dance. The peasants play on +a little wooden flute which is called the "Tilinko," or "Furulya," and +they know hundreds of sad folk-songs and lively Csrds. While living +their isolated lives in the great plains they compose many a beautiful +song. + +It is generally from the peasants and the musical country gentry that +the gipsy gets his music. He learns the songs after a single hearing, +and plays them exactly according to the singer's wish. The Hungarian +noble when singing with the gipsies is capable of giving the dark-faced +boys every penny he has. In this manner many a young nobleman has been +ruined, and the gipsies make nothing of it, because they are just like +their masters and "spend easily earned money easily," as the saying +goes. Where there is much music there is much dancing. Every Sunday +afternoon after church the villages are lively with the sound of the +gipsy band, and the young peasant boys and girls dance. + +The Slovaks of the north play a kind of bagpipe, which reminds one of +the Scotch ones; but the songs of the Slovak have got very much mixed +with the Hungarian. The Rumanian music is of a distinct type, but the +dances all resemble the Csrds, with the difference that the quick +figures in the Slav and Rumanian dances are much more grotesque and +verging on acrobatism. + + + +VII + +AUSTRIA'S ADRIATIC PORTS + +TRIESTE AND POLA[3] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +Trieste stands forth as a rival of Venice, which has, in a low practical +view of things, outstript her. Italian zeal naturally cries for the +recovery of a great city, once part of the old Italian kingdom, and +whose speech is largely, perhaps chiefly, Italian to this day. But, a +cry of "Italia Irredenta," however far it may go, must not go so far +as this. Trieste, a cosmopolitan city on a Slavonic shore, can not be +called Italian in the same sense as the lands and towns so near Verona +which yearn to be as Verona is. Let Trieste be the rival, even the +eyesore, of Venice, still Southern Germany must have a mouth. + +We might, indeed, be better pleased to see Trieste a free city, the +southern fellow of Lbeck, Bremen and Hamburg; but it must not be +forgotten that the Archduke of Austria and Lord of Trieste reigns at +Trieste by a far better right than that by which he reigns at Cattaro +and Spizza. The present people of Trieste did not choose him, but the +people of Trieste five hundred years back did choose the forefather of +his great-grandmother. Compared with the grounds of which kingdoms, +duchies, counties, and lordships, are commonly held in that +neighborhood, such a claim as this must be allowed to be respectable +indeed. + +The great haven of Trieste may almost at pleasure be quoted as either +confirming or contradicting the rule that it is not in the great +commercial cities of Europe that we are to look for the choicest or the +most plentiful remains of antiquity. Sometimes the cities themselves +are of modern foundation; in other cases the cities themselves, as +habitations of men and seats of commerce, are of the hoariest antiquity, +but the remains of their early days have perished through their very +prosperity. Massalia,[4] with her long history, with her double wreath +of freedom, the city which withstood Csar and which withstood Charles +of Anjou, is bare of monuments of her early days. She has been the +victim of her abiding good fortune. We can look down from the height on +the Phkaian harbor; but for actual memorials of the men who fled from +the Persian, of the men who defied the Roman and the Angevin, we might +look as well at Liverpool or at Havre. + +Genoa, Venice herself, are hardly real exceptions; they were indeed +commercial cities, but they were ruling cities also, and, as ruling +cities, they reared monuments which could hardly pass away. What are we +to say to the modern rival of Venice, the upstart rebel, one is tempted +to say, against the supremacy of the Hadriatic Queen? Trieste, at the +head of her gulf, with the hills looking down to her haven, with the +snowy mountains which seem to guard the approach from the other side of +her inland sea, with her harbor full of the ships of every nation, her +streets echoing with every tongue, is she to be reckoned as an example +of the rule or an exception to it? + +No city at first sight seems more thoroughly modern; old town and +new, wide streets and narrow, we search them in vain for any of those +vestiges of past times which in some cities meet us at every step. +Compare Trieste with Ancona;[5] we miss the arch of Trajan on the haven; +we miss the cupola of Saint Cyriacus soaring in triumph above the +triumphal monument of the heathen. We pass through the stately streets +of the newer town, we thread the steep ascents which lead us to the +older town above, and we nowhere light on any of those little scraps of +ornamental architecture, a window, a doorway, a column, which meet us at +every step in so many of the cities of Italy. + +Yet the monumental wealth of Trieste is all but equal to the monumental +wealth of Ancona. At Ancona we have the cathedral church and the +triumphal arch; so we have at Trieste; tho' at Trieste we have nothing +to set against the grand front of the lower and smaller church of +Ancona. But at Ancona arch and duomo both stand out before all eyes; +at Trieste both have to be looked for. The church of Saint Justus at +Trieste crowns the hill as well as the church of Saint Cyriacus at +Ancona; but it does not in the same way proclaim its presence. The +castle, with its ugly modern fortifications, rises again above the +church; and the duomo of Trieste, with its shapeless outline and its +low, heavy, unsightly campanile, does not catch the eyes like the Greek +cross and cupola of Ancona. + +Again at Trieste the arch could never, in its best days, have been a +rival to the arch at Ancona; and now either we have to hunt it out by an +effort, or else it comes upon us suddenly, standing, as it does, at the +head of a mean street on the ascent to the upper town. Of a truth it can +not compete with Ancona or with Rimini, with Orange[6] or with Aosta. +But the duomo, utterly unsightly as it is in a general view, puts on +quite a new character when we first see the remains of pagan times +imprisoned in the lower stage of the heavy campanile, still more so when +we take our first glance of its wonderful interior. At the first glimpse +we see that here there is a mystery to be unraveled; and as we gradually +find the clue to the marvelous changes which it has undergone, we +feel that outside show is not everything, and that, in point both +of antiquity and of interest, tho' not of actual beauty, the double +basilica of Trieste may claim no mean place among buildings of its own +type. Even after the glories of Rome and Ravenna, the Tergestine church +may be studied with no small pleasure and profit, as an example of a +kind of transformation of which neither Rome nor Ravenna can supply +another example.... + +The other ancient relic at Trieste is the small triumphal arch. On one +side it keeps its Corinthian pilasters; on the other they are imbedded +in a house. The arch is in a certain sense double; but the two are close +together, and touch in the keystone. The Roman date of this arch can not +be doubted; but legends connect it both with Charles the Great and with +Richard of Poitou and of England, a prince about whom Tergestine fancy +has been very busy. The popular name of the arch is Arco Riccardo. + +Such, beside some fragments in the museum, are all the remains that the +antiquary will find in Trieste; not much in point of number, but, in the +case of the duomo at least, of surpassing interest in their own way. But +the true merit of Trieste is not in anything that it has itself, its +church, its arch, its noble site. Placed there at the head of the gulf, +on the borders of two great portions of the Empire, it leads to the land +which produced that line of famous Illyrian Emperors who for a while +checked the advance of our own race in the world's history, and it leads +specially to the chosen home of the greatest among them.[7] The chief +glory of Trieste, after all, is that it is the way to Spalato.... + +At Pola the monuments of Pietas Julia claim the first place; the +basilica, tho' not without a certain special interest, comes long after +them. The character of the place is fixt by the first sight of it; we +see the present and we see the more distant past; the Austrian navy is +to be seen, and the amphitheater is to be seen. But intermediate times +have little to show; if the duomo strikes the eye at all, it strikes it +only by the extreme ugliness of its outside, nor is there anything very +taking, nothing like the picturesque castle of Pirano, in the works +which occupy the site of the colonial capitol. The duomo should not be +forgotten; even the church of Saint Francis is worth a glance; but it is +in the remains of the Roman colony, in the amphitheater, the arches, +the temples, the fragments preserved in that temple which serves, as +at Nmes,[8] for a museum, that the real antiquarian wealth of Pola +lies.... + +The known history of Pola begins with the Roman conquest of Istria +in 178 B.C. The town became a Roman colony and a flourishing seat of +commerce. Its action on the republican side in the civil war brought +on it the vengeance of the second Csar. But the destroyer became +the restorer, and Pietas Julia, in the height of its greatness, far +surpassed the extent either of the elder or the younger Pola. Like all +cities of this region, Pola kept up its importance down to the days of +the Carlovingian Empire, the specially flourishing time of the whole +district being that of Gothic and Byzantine dominion at Ravenna. A +barbarian king, the Roxolan Rasparasanus, is said to have withdrawn to +Pola after the submission of his nation to Hadrian; and the panegyrists +of the Flavian house rank Pola along with Trier and Autun among the +cities which the princes of that house had adorned or strengthened. But +in the history of their dynasty the name of the city chiefly stands out +as the chosen place for the execution of princes whom it was convenient +to put out of the way. + +Here Crispus died at the bidding of Constantine, and Gallus at the +bidding of Constantius. Under Theodoric, Pola doubtless shared that +general prosperity of the Istrian land on which Cassiodorus grows +eloquent when writing to its inhabitants. In the next generation Pola +appears in somewhat of the same character which has come back to it in +our own times; it was there that Belisarius gathered the Imperial fleet +for his second and less prosperous expedition against the Gothic lords +of Italy. But, after the break up of the Frankish Empire, the history of +medieval Pola is but a history of decline. It was, in the geography of +Dante, the furthest city of Italy; but, like most of the other cities of +its own neighborhood, its day of greatness had passed away when Dante +sang. + +Tossed to and fro between the temporal and spiritual lords who claimed +to be marquesses of Istria, torn by the dissensions of aristocratic and +popular parties among its own citizens, Pola found rest, the rest of +bondage, in submission to the dominion of Saint Mark in 1331.[9] Since +then, till its new birth in our own times, Pola has been a failing city. +Like the other Istrian and Dalmatian towns, modern revolutions have +handed it over from Venice to Austria, from Austria to France, from +France to Austria again. It is under its newest masters that Pola has +at last begun to live a fresh life, and the haven whence Belisarius[10] +sailed forth has again become a haven in more than name, the cradle of +the rising navy of the united Austrian and Hungarian realm. + +That haven is indeed a noble one. Few sights are more striking than to +see the huge mass of the amphitheater at Pola seeming to rise at once +out of the land-locked sea. As Pola is seen now, the amphitheater is the +one monument of its older days, which strikes the eye in the general +view, and which divides attention with signs that show how heartily the +once forsaken city has entered on its new career. But in the old time +Pola could show all the buildings which befitted its rank as a colony +of Rome. The amphitheater, of course, stood without the walls; the city +itself stood at the foot and on the slope of the hill which was crowned +by the capitol of the colony, where the modern fortress rises above the +Franciscan church. Parts of the Roman wall still stand; one of its gates +is left; another has left a neighbor and a memory.... + +Travelers are sometimes apt to complain, and that not wholly without +reason, that all amphitheaters are very like one another. At Pola this +remark is less true than elsewhere, as the amphitheater there has +several marked peculiarities of its own. We do not pretend to expound +all its details scientifically; but this we may say, that those who +dispute--if the dispute still goes on--about various points as regards +the Coliseum at Rome will do well to go and look for some further light +in the amphitheater of Pola. The outer range, which is wonderfully +perfect, while the inner arrangements are fearfully ruined, consists, on +the side toward the town, of two rows of arches, with a third story with +square-headed openings above them. + +But the main peculiarity in the outside is to be found in four +tower-like projections, not, as at Arles and Nmes, signs of Saracenic +occupation, but clearly parts of the original design. Many conjectures +have been made about them; they look as if they were means of approach +to the upper part of the building; but it is wisest not to be positive. +But the main peculiarity of this amphitheater is that it lies on the +slope of a hill, which thus supplied a natural basement for the seats on +one side only. But this same position swallowed up the lower arcade on +this side, and it hindered the usual works underneath the seats from +being carried into this part of the building. + + +SPALATO[11] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +The main object and center of all historical and architectural inquiries +on the Dalmatian coast is, of course, the home of Diocletian, the still +abiding palace of Spalato. From a local point of view, it is the spot +which the greatest of the long line of renowned Illyrian Emperors chose +as his resting-place from the toils of warfare and government, and +where he reared the vastest and noblest dwelling that ever arose at the +bidding of a single man. From an ecumenical point of view, Spalato is +yet more. If it does not rank with Rome, Old and New, with Ravenna and +with Trier, it is because it never was, like them, an actual seat of +empire. But it not the less marks a stage, and one of the greatest +stages, in the history of the Empire. + +On his own Dalmatian soil, Docles of Salone, Diocletian of Rome, was the +man who had won fame for his own land, and who, on the throne of the +world, did not forget his provincial birthplace. In the sight of Rome +and of the world Jovius Augustus was more than this. Alike in the +history of politics and in the history of art, he has left his mark on +all time that has come after him, and it is on his own Spalato that +his mark has been most deeply stamped. The polity of Rome and the +architecture of Rome alike received a new life at his hands. In each +alike he cast away shams and pretenses, and made the true construction +of the fabric stand out before men's eyes. Master of the Rome world, if +not King, yet more than King, he let the true nature of his power be +seen, and, first among the Csars, arrayed himself with the outward pomp +of sovereignty. + +In a smaller man we might have deemed the change a mark of weakness, a +sign of childish delight in gewgaws, titles, and trappings. Such could +hardly have been the motive in the man who, when he deemed that his work +was done, could cast away both the form and the substance of power, and +could so steadily withstand all temptations to take them up again. It +was simply that the change was fully wrought; that the chief magistrate +of the commonwealth had gradually changed into the sovereign of the +Empire; that Imperator, Csar, and Augustus, once titles lowlier than +that of King, had now become, as they have ever since remained, titles +far loftier. The change was wrought, and all that Diocletian did was to +announce the fact of the change to the world. + +Nor did the organizing hand of Jovius confine its sphere to the polity +of the Empire only. He built himself a house, and, above all builders, +he might boast himself of the house that he had builded. Fast by his +own birthplace--a meaner soul might have chosen some distant +spot--Diocletian reared the palace which marks a still greater epoch in +Roman art than his political changes mark in Roman polity. On the inmost +shore of one of the lake-like inlets of the Hadriatic, an inlet guarded +almost from sight by the great island of Bua at its mouth, lay his own +Salona, now desolate, then one of the great cities of the Roman world. +But it was not in the city, it was not close under its walls, that +Diocletian fixt his home. An isthmus between the bay of Salona and the +outer sea cuts off a peninsula, which again throws out two horns into +the water to form the harbor which has for ages supplanted Salona. + +There, not on any hill-top, but on a level spot by the coast, with the +sea in front, with a background of more distant mountains, and with +one peaked hill rising between the two seas like a watch-tower, did +Diocletian build the house to which he withdrew when he deemed that his +work of empire was over. And in building that house, he won for himself, +or for the nameless genius whom he set at work, a place in the history +of art worthy to rank alongside of Iktinos of Athens and Anthemios of +Byzantium, of William of Durham and of Hugh of Lincoln. + +And now the birthplace of Jovius is forsaken, but his house still +abides, and abides in a shape marvelously little shorn of its ancient +greatness. The name which it still bears comes straight from the name of +the elder home of the Csars. The fates of the two spots have been in a +strange way the converse of one another. By the banks of the Tiber the +city of Romulus became the house of a single man: by the shores of the +Hadriatic the house of a single man became a city. The Palatine hill +became the Palatium of the Csars, and Palatium was the name which was +borne by the house of Csar by the Dalmatian shore. The house became a +city; but its name still clave to it, and the house of Jovius still, +at least in the mouths of its own inhabitants, keeps its name in the +slightly altered form of Spalato.... + +We land with the moon lighting up the water, with the stars above us, +the northern wain shining on the Hadriatic, as if, while Diocletian was +seeking rest by Salona, the star of Constantine was rising over York +and Trier. Dimly rising above us we see, disfigured indeed, but not +destroyed, the pillared front of the palace, reminding us of the +Tabularium of Rome's own capitol. We pass under gloomy arches, through +dark passages and presently we find ourselves in the center of palace +and city, between those two renowned rows of arches which mark the +greatest of all epochs in the history of the building art. We think how +the man who reorganized the Empire of Rome was also the man who first +put harmony and consistency into the architecture of Rome. We think +that, if it was in truth the crown of Diocletian which passed to every +Csar from the first Constantius to the last Francis, it was no less in +the pile which rose into being at his word that the germ was planted +which grew into Pisa and Durham, into Westminster and Saint Ouen. + +There is light enough to mark the columns put for the first time to +their true Roman use, and to think how strange was the fate which called +up on this spot the happy arrangement which had entered the brain of no +earlier artist--the arrangement which, but a few years later, was to be +applied to another use in the basilica of the Lateran and in Saint Paul +Without the Walls. Yes, it is in the court of the persecutor, the man +who boasted that he had wiped out the Christian superstition from the +world, that we see the noblest forestalling of the long arcades of the +Christian basilica. + +It is with thoughts like these, thoughts pressing all the more upon us +where every outline is clear and every detail is visible, that we tread +for the first time the Court of Jovius--the columns with their arches on +either side of us, the vast bell-tower rising to the sky, as if to mock +the art of those whose mightiest works might still seem only to grovel +upon earth. Nowhere within the compass of the Roman world do we find +ourselves more distinctly in the presence of one of the great minds +of the world's history; we see that, alike in politics and in art, +Diocletian breathed a living soul into a lifeless body. In the bitter +irony of the triumphant faith, his mausoleum has become a church, his +temple has become a baptistery, the great bell-tower rises proudly over +his own work; his immediate dwelling-place is broken down and crowded +with paltry houses; but the sea-front and the Golden Gate are still +there amid all disfigurements, and the great peristyle stands almost +unhurt, to remind us of the greatest advance that a single mind ever +made in the progress of the building art. + +At the present time the city into which the house of Diocletian has +grown is the largest and most growing town of the Dalmatian coast. It +has had to yield both spiritual and temporal precedence to Zara, but, +both in actual population and all that forms the life of a city, Spalato +greatly surpasses Zara and all its other neighbors. The youngest +Dalmatian towns, which could boast neither of any mythical origin nor of +any Imperial foundation, the city which, as it were, became a city by +mere chance, has outstript the colonies of Epidauros, of Corinth, and of +Rome. + +The palace of Diocletian had but one occupant; after the founder no +Emperor had dwelled in it, unless we hold that this was the villa near +Salona where the deposed Emperor Nepos was slain, during the patriciate +of Odoacer. The forsaken palace seems, while still almost new, to have +become a cloth factory, where women worked, and which therefore appears +in the "Notitia" as a Gyncium. But when Salona was overthrown, the +palace stood ready to afford shelter to those who were driven from their +homes. The palace, in the widest sense of the word--for of course its +vast circuit took in quarters for soldiers and officials of various +kinds, as well as the rooms actually occupied by the Emperor--stood +ready to become a city. + +It was a chester ready made, with its four streets, its four gates, all +but that toward the sea flanked with octagonal towers, and with four +greater square towers at the corners. To this day the circuit of the +walls is nearly perfect; and the space contained within them must be as +large as that contained within some of the oldest chesters in our own +island. The walls, the towers, the gates, are those of a city rather +than of a house. Two of the gates, tho' their towers are gone, are +nearly perfect; the "porta aurea," with its graceful ornaments; the +"porta ferrea" in its stern plainness, strangely crowned with its small +campanile of later days perched on its top. Within the walls, besides +the splendid buildings which still remain, besides the broken-down walls +and chambers which formed the immediate dwelling-place of the founder, +the main streets were lined with massive arcades, large parts of which +still remain. + +Diocletian, in short, in building a house, had built a city. In the days +of Constantine Porphyrogenitus it was a "Kotpov"--Greek and English had +by his day alike borrowed the Latin name; but it was a "Kotpov" which +Diocletian had built as his own house, and within which was his hall +and palace. In his day the city bore the name of Aspalathon, which he +explains to mean "little palace." When the palace had thus become a +common habitation of men, it is not wonderful that all the more private +buildings whose use had passed away were broken down, disfigured, and +put to mean uses. + +The work of building over the site must have gone on from that day to +this. The view in Wheeler shows several parts of the enclosure occupied +by ruins which are now covered with houses. The real wonder is that so +much has been spared and has survived to our own days. And we are rather +surprised to find Constantine saying that in his time the greater part +had been destroyed. For the parts which must always have been the +stateliest remain still. The great open court, the peristyle, with its +arcades, have become the public plaza of the town; the mausoleum on +one side of it and the temple on the other were preserved and put to +Christian uses. + +We say the mausoleum, for we fully accept the suggestion made by +Professor Glavinich, the curator of the museum of Spalato, that the +present duomo, traditionally called the Temple of Jupiter, was not a +temple, but a mausoleum. These must have been the great public buildings +of the palace, and, with the addition of the bell-tower, they remain the +chief public buildings of the modern city. But, tho' the ancient square +of the palace remains wonderfully perfect, the modern city, with its +Venetian defenses, its Venetian and later buildings, has spread itself +far beyond the walls of Diocletian. But those walls have made the +history of Spalato, and it is the great buildings which stand within +them that give Spalato its special place in the history of architecture. + + +RAGUSA[12] + +BY HARRY DE WINDT + +Viewed from the sea, and at first sight, the place somewhat resembles +Monte Carlo with its white villas, palms, and background of rugged, +gray hills. But this is the modern portion of the town, outside the +fortifications, erected many centuries ago. Within them lies the +real Ragusa--a wonderful old city which teems with interest, for its +time-worn buildings and picturesque streets recall, at every turn, the +faded glories of this "South Slavonic Athens." A bridge across the moat +which protects the old city is the link between the present and past. +In new Ragusa you may sit on the crowded esplanade of a fashionable +watering place; but pass through a frowning archway into the old +town, and, save in the main street, which has modern shops and other +up-to-date surroundings, you might be living in the dark ages. For as +far back as in the ninth century Ragusa was the capital of Dalmatia +and an independent republic, and since that period her literary and +commercial triumphs, and the tragedies she has survived in the shape +of sieges, earthquakes, and pestilence, render the records of this +little-known state almost as engrossing as those of ancient Rome. + +Until I came here I had pictured a squalid Eastern place, devoid of +ancient or modern interest; most of my fellow-countrymen probably do +likewise, notwithstanding the fact that when London was +a small and obscure town Ragusa was already an important center of +commerce and civilization. The republic was always a peaceful one, and +its people excelled in trade and the fine arts. Thus, as early as the +fourteenth century the Ragusan fleet was the envy of the world; its +vessels were then known as Argusas to British mariners, and the English +word "Argosy" is probably derived from the name. These tiny ships went +far afield--to the Levant and Northern Europe, and even to the Indies--a +voyage frought, in those days, with much peril. At this epoch Ragusa had +achieved a mercantile prosperity unequalled throughout Europe, but in +later years the greater part of the fleet joined and perished with the +Spanish Armada. + +And this catastrophe was the precursor of a series of national +disasters. In 1667 the city was laid waste by an earthquake which +killed over twenty thousand people, and this was followed by a terrible +visitation of the plague, which further decimated the population. +Ragusa, however, was never a large city, and even at its zenith, in +the sixteenth century, it numbered under forty thousand souls, and now +contains only about a third of that number. + +In 1814 the Vienna Congress finally deprived the republic of its +independence, and it became (with Dalmatia) an Austrian possession. +Trade has not increased here of recent years, as in Herzegovina and +Bosnia. The harbor, at one time one of the most important ports in +Europe, is too small and shallow for modern shipping, and the oil +industry, once the backbone of the place, has sadly dwindled of late +years. + +Ragusa itself now having no harbor worthy of the name, the traveler by +sea must land at Gravosa about a mile north of the old city. Gravosa is +merely a suburb of warehouses, shipping, and sailor-men, as unattractive +as the London Docks, and the Hotel Petko swarmed with mosquitoes and +an animal which seems to thrive and flourish throughout the Balkan +States--the rat. + +The old Custom House is perhaps the most beautiful building in Ragusa, +and is one of the few which survived the terrible earthquake of 1667. +The structure bears the letters "I.H.S." over the principal entrance in +commemoration of this fact. Its courtyard is a dream of beauty, and the +stone galleries around it are surrounded with inscriptions of great age. + +Ragusa is a Slav town, but altho' the name of streets appear in Slavonic +characters, Italian is also spoken on every side and the "Stradone," +with its arcades and narrow precipitous alleys at right angles, is not +unlike a street in Naples. The houses are built in small blocks, as +a protection against earthquakes--the terror of every Ragusan (only +mention the word and he will cross himself)--and here on a fine Sunday +morning you may see Dalmatians, Albanians, and Herzegovinians in their +gaudiest finery, while here and there a wild-eyed Montenegrin, armed to +the teeth, surveys the gay scene with a scowl, of shyness rather than +ill-humor. + +Outside the caf, on the Square (where flocks of pigeons whirl around as +at St. Mark's in Venice), every little table is occupied; but here the +women are gowned in the latest Vienna fashions, and Austrian uniforms +predominate. And the sun shines as warmly as in June (on this 25th day +of March), and the cathedral bells chime a merry accompaniment to a +military band; a sky of the brightest blue gladdens the eye, fragrant +flowers the senses, and the traveler sips his bock or mazagran, and +thanks his stars he is not spending the winter in cold, foggy England. +Refreshments are served by a white-aproned garon, and street boys +are selling the "Daily Mail" and "Gil Blas," just as they are on the +far-away boulevards of Paris. + + +CATTARO[13] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +The end of a purely Dalmatian pilgrimage will be Cattaro. He who goes +further along the coast will pass into lands that have a history, past +and present, which is wholly distinct from that of the coast which he +has hitherto traced from Zara--we might say from Capo d'Istria--onward. +We have not reached the end of the old Venetian dominion--for that we +must carry our voyage to Crete and Cyprus. But we have reached the end +of the nearly continuous Venetian dominion--the end of the coast which, +save at two small points, was either Venetian or Regusan--the end of +that territory of the two maritime commonwealths which they kept down to +their fall in modern times, and in which they have been succeeded by the +modern Dalmatian kingdom.... + +The city stands at the end of an inlet of the sea fifteen or twenty +miles long, and it has mountains around it so high that it is only in +fair summer weather that the sun can be seen; in winter Cattaro never +enjoys his presence. There certainly is no place where it is harder to +believe that the smooth waters of the narrow, lake-like inlet, with +mountains on each side which it seems as if one could put out one's hand +and touch, are really part of the same sea which dashes against the +rocks of Ragusa. They end in a meadow-like coast which makes one think +of Bourget or Trasimenus rather than of Hadria. The Dalmatian voyage is +well ended by the sail along the Bocche, the loveliest piece of inland +sea which can be conceived, and whose shores are as rich in curious bits +of political history as they are in scenes of surpassing natural beauty. + +The general history of the district consists in the usual tossing to and +fro between the various powers which have at different times been strong +in the neighborhood. Cattaro was in the reign of Basil the Macedonian +besieged and taken by Saracens, who presently went on unsuccessfully to +besiege Ragusa. And, as under Byzantine rule it was taken by Saracens, +so under Venetian rule it was more than once besieged by Turks. In the +intermediate stages we get the usual alternations of independence and of +subjection to all the neighboring powers in turn, till in 1419 Cattaro +finally became Venetian. At the fall of the republic it became part of +the Austrian share of the spoil. When the spoilers quarreled, it fell +to France. When England, Russia, and Montenegro were allies, the city +joined the land of which it naturally forms the head, and Cattaro became +the Montenegrin haven and capital. When France was no longer dangerous, +and the powers of Europe came together to parcel out other men's goods, +Austria calmly asked for Cattaro back again, and easily got it. + +In the city of Cattaro the Orthodox Church is still in a minority, but +it is a minority not far short of a majority. Outside its walls, the +Orthodox outnumber the Catholics. In short, when we reach Cattaro, we +have very little temptation to fancy ourselves in Italy or in any part +of Western Christendom. We not only know, but feel, that we are on the +Byzantine side of the Hadriatic; that we have, in fact, made our way +into Eastern Europe. + +And East and West, Slav and Italian, New Rome and Old, might well +struggle for the possession of the land and of the water through which +we pass from Ragusa to our final goal at Cattaro. The strait leads us +into a gulf; another narrow strait leads us into an inner gulf; and on +an inlet again branching out of that inner gulf lies the furthest of +Dalmatian cities. The lower city, Cattaro itself, seems to lie so +quietly, so peacefully, as if in a world of its own from which nothing +beyond the shores of its own Bocche could enter, that we are tempted to +forget, not only that the spot has been the scene of so many revolutions +through so many ages, but that it is even now a border city, a city on +the marchland of contending powers, creeds, and races.... + +The city of Cattaro itself is small, standing on a narrow ledge between +the gulf and the base of the mountain. It carries the features of the +Dalmatian cities to what any one who has not seen Tra will call their +extreme point. But, tho' the streets of Cattaro are narrow, yet they are +civilized and airy-looking compared with those of Tra, and the little +paved squares, as so often along this coast, suggest the memory of the +ruling city. + +The memory of Venice is again called up by the graceful little scraps of +its characteristic architecture which catch the eye ever and anon among +the houses of Cattaro. The landing-place, the marina, the space between +the coast and the Venetian wall, where we pass for the last time under +the winged lion over the gate, has put on the air of a boulevard. But +the forms and costume of Bocchesi and Montenegrins, the men of the gulf, +with their arms in their girdles, no less than the men of the black +mountain, banish all thought that we are anywhere but where we really +are, at one of the border points of Christian and civilized Europe. If +in the sons of the mountains we see the men who have in all ages held +out against the invading Turk, we see in their brethren of the coast the +men who, but a few years back, brought Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic +Majesty to its knees ... + +At Cattaro the Orthodox Church is on its own ground, standing side by +side on equal terms with its Latin rival, pointing to lands where the +Filioque[14] is unknown and where the Bishop of the Old Rome has even +been deemed an intruder. The building itself is a small Byzantine +church, less Byzantine in fact in its outline than the small churches of +the Byzantine type at Zara, Spalato, and Tra. The single dome rises, +not from the intersection of a Greek cross, but from the middle of a +single body, and, resting as it does on pointed arches, it suggests +the thought of Prigueux and Angoulme. But this arrangement, which is +shared by a neighboring Latin church, is well known throughout the East. + +The Latin duomo, which has been minutely described by Mr. Neale,[15] is +of quite another type, and is by no means Dalmatian in its general look. +A modern west front with two western towers does not go for much; but it +reminds us that a design of the same kind was begun at Tra in better +times. The inside is quite unlike anything of later Italian work. + +The traveler whose objects are of a more general kind turns away from +this border church of Christendom as the last stage of a pilgrimage +unsurpassed either for natural beauty or for historic interest. And, as +he looks up at the mountain which rises almost close above the east end +of the duomo of Cattaro, and thinks of the land[16] and the men to which +the path over that mountain leads, he feels that, on this frontier at +least, the spirit still lives which led English warriors to the side of +Manuel Komnnos, and which steeled the heart of the last Constantine to +die in the breach for the Roman name and the faith of Christendom. + + + +VIII + +OTHER AUSTRIAN SCENES + +CRACOW[17] + +BY MNIE MURIEL DOWIE + +Cracow, old, tired and dispirited, speaks and thinks only of the ruinous +past. When you drive into Cracow from the station for the first time, +you are breathless, smiling, and tearful all at once; in the great +Ring-platz--a mass of old buildings--Cracow seems to hold out her arms +to you--those long sides that open from the corner where the cab drives +in. You do not have time to notice separately the row of small trees +down on one side, beneath which bright-colored women-figures control +their weekly market; you do not notice the sort of court-house in the +middle with its red roof, cream-colored galleries and shops beneath; you +do not notice the great tall church at one side of brick and stone most +perfectly time-reconciled, or the houses, or the crazed paving, or the +innocent little groups of cabs--you only see Cracow holding out her arms +to you, and you may lean down your head and weep from pure instinctive +sympathy. Suddenly a choir of trumpets breaks out into a chorale from +the big church tower; the melancholy of it I shall never forget--the +very melody seemed so old and tired, so worn and sweet and patient, like +Cracow. Those trumpet notes have mourned in that tower for hundreds of +years. It is the Hymn of Timeless Sorrow that they play, and the key +to which they are attuned in Cracow's long despair. Hush! That is her +voice, the old town's voice, high and sad--she is speaking to you. + +Dear Cracow! Never again it seems to me, shall I come so near to the +deathless hidden sentiment of Poland as in those first moments. It would +be no use to tell her to take heart, that there may be brighter days +coming, and so forth. Lemberg may feel so, Lemberg that has the feelings +of any other big new town, the strength and the determination; but +Cracow's day was in the long ago, as a gay capital, a brilliant +university town full of princes, of daring, of culture, of wit. She has +outlived her day, and can only mourn over what has been and the times +that she has seen; she may be always proud of her character, of the +brave blood that has made scarlet her streets, but she can never be +happy remodeled as an Austrian garrison town, and in the new Poland--the +Poland whose foundation stones are laid in the hearts of her people, +and that may yet be built some day--in that new Poland there will be no +place for aristocratic, high-bred Cracow. + +During my stay in the beautiful butter-colored palace that is now a +hotel, I went round the museums, galleries, and universities, most if +not all of which are free to the public. It would be unfair to give the +idea that Cracow has completely fallen to decay. This is not the case. +Austria has erected some very handsome buildings; and a town with such +fine pictures, good museums, and two universities, can not be complained +of as moribund. At the same time, I can only record faithfully my +impression, and that was that everything new, everything modern, was +hopelessly out of tone in Cracow; progress, which, tho' desirable, may +be a vulgar thing, would not suit her, and does not seem at home in her +streets. + +About the Florian's Thor, with its round towers of old, sorrel-colored +brick, and the Czartoryski Museum, there is nothing to say that the +guide-book would not say better. In the museum, a tattered Polish flag +of red silk, with the white eagle, a cheerful bird with curled tail, +opened mouth, chirping defiantly to the left, imprest me, and a portrait +of Szopen (Chopin) in fine profile when laid out dead. For amusement, +there was a Paul Potter bull beside a Paul Potter willow, delightfully +unconscious of a coming Paul Potter thunderstorm, and a miniature of +Shakespeare which did not resemble any of the portraits of him that I +am familiar with. Any amount of Turkish trappings and reminiscences of +Potocki and Kosciuszko, of course. As I had no guide-book, I am quite +prepared to learn that I overlooked the most important relics. + +In the cathedral, away up on the hill of Wawel, above the river Vistula +(Wisla) I prowled about among the crypts with a curious specimen of +beadledom who ran off long unintelligible histories in atrocious +Viennese patois about every solemn tomb by which we stood. So far as I +was concerned it might just as well have been the functionary who herds +small droves of visitors in Westminster Abbey. I never listen to these +people, because (i) I do not care to be informed; and (ii) since I +should never remember what they said, it is useless my even letting it +in at one ear. The kindly, cobwebby old person who piloted me +among those wonderful kings' graves in Cracow was personally not +uninteresting, indeed a fine study, and his rigmaroles brought up +infallibly upon three words which I could not fail to notice: these +were "silberner Sarg vergoldet" (silver coffin, gilded). It had an odd +fascination for me this phrase, as I stood always waiting for it; why, I +wondered, should anybody want to gild a good solid silver coffin? + +At the time of my first visit, the excavation necessary to form the +crypt for the resting-place of Mickiewicz[18] was in progress, and I +went in among the limey, dusty workmen, with their tallow candles, +and looked round. In return for my gulden, the beadle gave me a +few immortelles from Sobieski's tomb, and some laurel leaves from +Kosciuszko's; and remembering friends at home of refinedly ghoulish +tastes, I determined to preserve those poor moldering fragments for +them. + +Most of my days and evenings I spent wandering by the Vistula and in and +out of the hundred churches. My plan was to sight a spire, and then walk +to the root of it, so to speak. In this manner I saw the town very well. +The houses were of brick and plaster, the rich carmine-red brick that +has made Cracow so beautiful. On each was a beautiful faade, and +pediments in renaissance, bas-relief work of cupids, and classic figures +with ribands and roses tying among them, seeming to speak, somehow, of +the dead princes and the mighty aristocracy which had cost Cracow so +dear. + +In the Jews' quarter that loud lifelong market of theirs was going +forward, which required seemingly only some small basinfuls of sour +Gurken and a few spoonfuls of beans of its stock-in-trade. Mingling +among the Jews were the peasants, of course; the men in tightly fitting +trousers of white blanket cloth, rich embroidered on the upper part and +down the seams in blue and red; the women wearing pink printed muslin +skirts, often with a pale blue muslin apron and a lemon-colored fine +wool cloth, spotted in pink, upon the head. They manifested a great +appreciation of color, but none of form, and after the free dress of +the Hucal women, these people, mummied in their red tartan shawls--all +hybrid Stewarts, they seemed to me--were merely bright bundles in the +sunshine. + +In the shops in Cracow, French was nearly always the language of attack, +and a good deal was spoken in the hotel. I had occasion to buy a great +many things, but, according to my custom, not a photograph was among +them; therefore, when I go back, I shall receive perfectly new and fresh +impressions of the place, and can cherish no vague memories, encouraged +by an album at home, in which the nameless cathedrals of many countries +confuse themselves, and only the Coliseum at Rome stands forth, not to +be contradicted or misnamed. + +But it became necessary to put a period to my wandering, unless I wished +to find myself stranded in Vienna with "neither cross nor pile." The +references to money-matters have been designedly slight throughout these +pages. It is not my habit to keep accounts. I have never found that +you get any money back by knowing just how you have spent it, and a +conscience-pricking record of expenses is very ungrateful reading. So, +when a certain beautiful evening came, I felt that I had to look upon it +as my last. Being too early for the train, I bid the man drive about in +the early summer dark for three-quarters of an hour. + +To such as do not care for precise information and statistics in foreign +places, but appreciate rather atmosphere and impression, I can recommend +this course. In and out among the pretty garden woods, outside the town, +we drove. Buildings loomed majestically out of the night; sometimes it +was the tower of an unknown church, sometimes it was the house of some +forgotten family that sprang suggestively to the eye, and I was grateful +that I was left to suppose the indefinite type of Austrian bureau, which +occupied, in all probability, the first floor. Then we came to the +river, and later, Wawel stood massed out black upon the blue, the +glorious gravestone of a fallen Power. + +All the stars were shining, and little red-yellow lights in the castle +windows were not much bigger. Above the whisper of the willows on its +bank came the deep, quiet murmur of the Vistula, and every now and then, +over the several towers of the solemn old palaces and the spires of the +church where Poland has laid her kings, and so recently the king of the +poets, the stars were dropping from their places, like sudden spiders, +letting themselves down into the vast by faint yellow threads that +showed a moment after the star itself was gone. + +Later, as I looked from the open gallery of the train that was taking me +away, I could not help thinking that, just a hundred years ago, Wawel's +star was shining with a light bright enough for all Europe to see; +but even as the stars fell that night and left their places empty, so +Wawel's star has fallen and Poland's star has fallen too. + + +ON THE ROAD TO PRAGUE[19] + +BY BAYARD TAYLOR + +I was pleasantly disappointed on entering Bohemia. Instead of a dull, +uninteresting country, as I expected, it is a land full of the most +lovely scenery. There is everything which can gratify the eye--high blue +mountains, valleys of the sweetest pastoral look and romantic old ruins. +The very name of Bohemia is associated with wild and wonderful legends +of the rude barbaric ages. Even the chivalric tales of the feudal times +of Germany grow tame beside these earlier and darker histories. The +fallen fortresses of the Rhine or the robber-castles of the Odenwald +had not for me so exciting an interest as the shapeless ruins cumbering +these lonely mountains. The civilized Saxon race was left behind; I +saw around me the features and heard the language of one of those rude +Slavonic tribes whose original home was on the vast steppes of Central +Asia. + +I have rarely enjoyed traveling more than our first two days' journey +toward Prague. The range of the Erzgebirge ran along on our right; the +snow still lay in patches upon it, but the valleys between, with their +little clusters of white cottages, were green and beautiful. About six +miles before reaching Teplitz we passed Kulm, the great battlefield +which in a measure decided the fate of Napoleon. He sent Vandamme with +forty thousand men to attack the allies before they could unite their +forces, and thus effect their complete destruction. Only the almost +despairing bravery of the Russian guards under Ostermann, who held him +in check till the allied troops united, prevented Napoleon's design. At +the junction of the roads, where the fighting was hottest, the Austrians +have erected a monument to one of their generals. Not far from it is +that of Prussia, simple and tasteful. A woody hill near, with the little +village of Kulm at its foot, was the station occupied by Vandamme at +the commencement of the battle. There is now a beautiful chapel on its +summit which can be seen far and wide. A little distance farther the +Czar of Russia has erected a third monument, to the memory of the +Russians who fell. Four lions rest on the base of the pedestal, and on +the top of the shaft, forty-five feet high, Victory is represented as +engraving the date, "Aug. 30, 1813," on a shield. The dark pine-covered +mountains on the right overlook the whole field and the valley of +Torlitz; Napoleon rode along their crests several days after the battle +to witness the scene of his defeat. + +Teplitz lies in a lovely valley, several miles wide, bounded by the +Bohemian mountains on one side and the Erzgebirge on the other. One +straggling peak near is crowned with a picturesque ruin, at whose foot +the spacious bath-buildings lie half hidden in foliage. As we went +down the principal street I noticed nearly every house was a hotel; we +learned afterward that in summer the usual average of visitors is five +thousand.[20] The waters resemble those of the celebrated Carlsbad; they +are warm and practically efficacious in rheumatism and diseases of like +character. After leaving Teplitz the road turned to the east, toward a +lofty mountain which we had seen the morning before. The peasants, as +they passed by, saluted us with "Christ greet you!" + +We stopt for the night at the foot of the peak called the Milleschauer, +and must have ascended nearly two thousand feet, for we had a wide view +the next morning, altho' the mists and clouds hid the half of it. The +weather being so unfavorable, we concluded not to ascend, and descended +through green fields and orchards snowy with blossoms to Lobositz, on +the Elbe. Here we reached the plains again, where everything wore the +luxuriance of summer; it was a pleasant change from the dark and rough +scenery we left. + +The road passed through Theresienstadt, the fortress of Northern +Bohemia. The little city is surrounded by a double wall and moat which +can be filled with water, rendering it almost impossible to be taken. In +the morning we were ferried over the Moldau, and after journeying nearly +all day across barren, elevated plains saw, late in the afternoon, the +sixty-seven spires of Prague below. + +I feel out of the world in this strange, fantastic, yet beautiful, old +city. We have been rambling all morning through its winding streets, +stopping sometimes at a church to see the dusty tombs and shrines or to +hear the fine music which accompanies the morning mass. I have seen no +city yet that so forcibly reminds one of the past and makes him forget +everything but the associates connected with the scenes around him. +The language adds to the illusion. Three-fourths of the people in the +streets speak Bohemian and many of the signs are written in the same +tongue. + +The palace of the Bohemian kings still looks down on the city from the +western heights, and their tombs stand in the cathedral of St. John. +When one has climbed up the stone steps leading to the fortress, there +is a glorious prospect before him. Prague with its spires and towers +lies in the valleys below, through which curves the Moldau with its +green islands, disappearing among the hills which enclose the city on +every side. The fantastic Byzantine architecture of many of the churches +and towers gives the city a peculiar Oriental appearance; it seems to +have been transported from the hills of Syria.... + +Having found out first a few of the locations, we haunted our way with +difficulty through its labyrinths, seeking out every place of note or +interest. Reaching the bridge at last, we concluded to cross over and +ascend to the Hradschin, the palace of the Bohemian kings. The bridge +was commenced in 1357, and was one hundred and fifty years in building. +That was the way the old Germans did their work, and they made a +structure which will last a thousand years longer. Every pier is +surmounted with groups of saints and martyrs, all so worn and timebeaten +that there is little left of their beauty, if they ever had any. The +most important of them--at least to Bohemians--is that of St. John +Nepomuk, now considered as the patron-saint of the land. He was a priest +many centuries ago [1340-1393] whom one of the kings threw from the +bridge into the Moldau because he refused to reveal to him what the +queen confest. The legend says the body swam for some time on the river +with five stars around its head. + +Ascending the broad flight of steps to the Hradschin, I paused a moment +to look at the scene below. A slight blue haze hung over the clustering +towers, and the city looked dim through it, like a city seen in a dream. +It was well that it should so appear, for not less dim and misty are the +memories that haunt its walls. There was no need of a magician's wand to +bid that light cloud shadow forth the forms of other times. They +came uncalled for even by Fancy. Far, far back in the past I saw the +warrior-princess who founded the kingly city--the renowned Libussa, +whose prowess and talent inspired the women of Bohemia to rise at her +death and storm the land that their sex might rule where it obeyed +before. On the mountain opposite once stood the palace of the bloody +Wlaska, who reigned with her Amazon band for seven years over half +Bohemia. Those streets below had echoed with the fiery words of Huss, +and the castle of his follower--the blind Ziska, who met and defeated +the armies of the German Empire--molders on the mountains above. Many a +year of war and tempest has passed over the scene. The hills around have +borne the armies of Wallenstein and Frederick the Great; the war-cry of +Bavaria, Sweden and Poland has echoed in the valley, and the red glare +of the midnight cannon or the flames of burning palaces have often +gleamed along the "blood-dyed waters" of the Moldau... + +On the way down again we stept into the St. Nicholas Church, which was +built by the Jesuits. The interior has a rich effect, being all of brown +and gold. The massive pillars are made to resemble reddish-brown +marble, with gilded capitals, and the statues at the base are profusely +ornamented in the same style. The music chained me there a long time. +There was a grand organ, assisted by a full orchestra and large choir of +singers. It was placed above, and at every sound of the priest's bell +the flourish of trumpets and deep roll of the drums filled the dome with +a burst of quivering sound, while the giant pipes of the organ breathed +out their full harmony and the very air shook under the peal. It was +like a triumphal strain. The soul became filled with thoughts of power +and glory; every sense was changed into one dim, indistinct emotion of +rapture which held the spirit as if spellbound. + +Not far from this place is the palace of Wallenstein, in the same +condition as when he inhabited it. It is a plain, large building having +beautiful gardens attached to it, which are open to the public. We +went through the courtyard, threaded a passage with a roof of rough +stalactitic rock and entered the garden, where a revolving fountain was +casting up its glittering arches. + + +THE CAVE OF ADELSBERG[21] + +BY GEORGE STILLMAN HILLARD + +The night had been passed at Adelsberg, and the morning had been +agreeably occupied in exploring the wonders of its celebrated cavern. +The entrance is through an opening in the side of a hill. In a few +moments, after walking down a gentle descent, a sound of flowing water +is heard, and the light of the torches borne by the guides gleams +faintly upon a river which runs through these sunless chasms, and +revisits the glimpses of day at Planina, some ten miles distant. + +The visitor now finds himself in a vast hall, walled and roofed by +impenetrable darkness of the stream, which is crossed by a wooden +bridge; and the ascent on the other side is made by a similar flight of +steps. The bridge and steps are marked by a double row of lights, which +present a most striking appearance as their tremulous luster struggles +through the night that broods over them. Such a scene recalls Milton's +sublime pictures of Pandemonium, and shows directly to the eye what +effects a great imaginative painter may produce with no other colors +than light and darkness. Here are the "stately height," the "ample +spaces," the "arched roof," the rows of "starry lamps and blazing +cressets" of Satan's hall of council; and by the excited fancy the dim +distance is easily peopled with gigantic forms and filled with the +"rushing of congregated wings." + +After this, one is led through a variety of chambers, differing in size +and form, but essentially similar in character, and the attention is +invited to the innumerable multitude of striking and fantastic objects +which have been formed in the lapse of ages, by the mere dropping of +water. Pendants hang from the roof, stalagmites grow from the floor like +petrified stumps, and pillars and buttresses are disposed as oddly as +in the architecture of a dream. Here, we are told to admire a bell, and +there, a throne; here, a pulpit, and there, a butcher's shop; here, "the +two hearts," and there, a fountain frozen into alabaster; and in every +case we assent to the resemblance in the unquestioning mood of Polonius. +One of the chambers, or halls, is used every year as a ball-room, for +which purpose it has every requisite except an elastic floor, even to a +natural dais for the orchestra. + +Here, with the sort of pride with which a book collector shows a Mazarin +Bible or a folio Shakespeare, the guides point out a beautiful piece of +limestone which hangs from the roof in folds as delicate as a Cashmere +shawl, to which the resemblance is made more exact by a well-defined +border of deeper color than the web. Through this translucent curtain +the light shines as through a picture in porcelain, and one must be very +unimpressible not to bestow the tribute of admiration which is claimed. +These are the trivial details which may be remembered and described, +but the general effect produced by the darkness, the silence, the vast +spaces, the innumerable forms, the vaulted roofs, the pillars and +galleries melting away in the gloom like the long-drawn aisles of a +cathedral, may be recalled but not communicated. + +To see all these marvels requires much time, and I remained under ground +long enough to have a new sense of the blessing of light. The first +glimpse of returning day seen through the distant entrance brought with +it an exhilarating sense of release, and the blue sky and cheerful +sunshine were welcomed like the faces of long absent friends. A cave +like that of Adelsberg--for all limestone caves are, doubtless, +essentially similar in character--ought by all means to be seen if it +comes in one's way, because it leaves impressions upon the mind unlike +those derived from any other object. Nature stamps upon most of her +operations a certain character of gravity and majesty. Order and +symmetry attend upon her steps, and unity in variety is the law by which +her movements are guided. But, beneath the surface of the earth, +she seems a frolicsome child, or a sportive undine, who wreaths the +unmanageable stone into weird and quaint forms, seemingly from no +other motive than pure delight in the exercise of overflowing power. +Everything is playful, airy, and fantastic; there is no spirit of +soberness; no reference to any ulterior end; nothing from which food, +fuel, or raiment can be extracted. These chasms have been scooped out, +and these pillars have been reared, in the spirit in which the bird +sings, or the kitten plays with the falling leaves. From such scenes we +may safely infer that the plan of the Creator comprehends something +more than material utility, that beauty is its own vindictator and +interpreter, that sawmills were not the ultimate cause of mountain +streams, nor wine-bottles of cork-trees. + + +THE MONASTERY OF MLK[22] + +BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN + +We had determined upon dining at Mlk the next day. The early morning +was somewhat inauspicious; but as the day advanced, it grew bright and +cheerful. Some delightful glimpses of the Danube, to the left, from the +more elevated parts of the road, accompanied us the whole way, till we +caught the first view, beneath a bright blue sky, of the towering church +and Monastery of Mlk. + +Conceive what you please, and yet you shall not conceive the situation +of this monastery. Less elevated above the road than Chremsminster, but +of a more commanding style of architecture, and of considerably greater +extent, it strikes you--as the Danube winds round and washes its rocky +base--as one of the noblest edifices in the world. The wooded heights +of the opposite side of the Danube crown the view of this magnificent +edifice, in a manner hardly to be surpassed. There is also a beautiful +play of architectural lines and ornament in the front of the building, +indicative of a pure Italian taste, and giving to the edifice, if not +the air of towering grandeur, at least of dignified splendor.... + +As usual, I ordered a late dinner, intending to pay my respects to +the Principal, and obtain permission to inspect the library. My late +monastic visits had inspired me with confidence; and I marched up the +steep sides of the hill, upon which the monastery is built, quite +assured of the success of the visit I was about to pay. You must now +accompany the bibliographer to the monastery. In five minutes from +entering the outer gate of the first quadrangle--looking toward +Vienna, and which is the more ancient part of the building--I was in +conversation with the Vice-Principal and Librarian, each of us speaking +Latin. I delivered the letter which I had received at Salzburg, and +proceeded to the library. + +The view from this library is really enchanting, and put everything seen +from a similar situation at Landshut and almost even at Chremsminster, +out of my recollection. You look down upon the Danube, catching a fine +sweep of the river, as it widens in its course toward Vienna. A man +might sit, read, and gaze--in such a situation--till he fancied he had +scarcely one earthly want! I now descended a small staircase, which +brought me directly into the large library--forming the right wing of +the building, looking up the Danube toward Lintz. I had scarcely uttered +three notes of admiration, when the Abb Strattman entered; and to my +surprise and satisfaction, addrest me by name. We immediately commenced +an ardent unintermitting conversation in the French language, which the +Abb speaks fluently and correctly. + +I now took a leisurely survey of the library; which is, beyond +all doubt, the finest room of its kind which I have seen upon the +Continent--not for its size, but for its style of architecture, and the +materials of which it is composed. I was told that it was "the Imperial +Library in miniature,"--but with this difference, let me here add, in +favor of Mlk--that it looks over a magnificently wooded country, with +the Danube rolling its rapid course at its base. The wainscot and +shelves are walnut tree, of different shades, inlaid, or dovetailed, +surmounted by gilt ornaments. The pilasters have Corinthian capitals of +gilt; and the bolder or projecting parts of a gallery, which surrounds +the room, are covered with the same metal. Everything is in harmony. +This library may be about a hundred feet in length, by forty in width. +It is sufficiently well furnished with books, of the ordinary useful +class, and was once, I suspect, much richer in the bibliographical lore +of the fifteenth century. + +On reaching the last descending step, just before entering the church, +the Vice-Principal bade me look upward and view the corkscrew staircase. +I did so; and to view and admire was one and the same operation of the +mind. It was the most perfect and extraordinary thing of the kind which +I had ever seen--the consummation, as I was told, of that particular +species of art. The church is the very perfection of ecclesiastical +Roman architecture; that of Chremsminster, altho' fine, being much +inferior to it in loftiness and richness of decoration. The windows +are fixt so as to throw their concentrated light beneath a dome, of no +ordinary height, and of no ordinary elegance of decoration; but this +dome is suffering from damp, and the paintings upon the ceiling will, +unless repaired, be effaced in the course of a few years. + +The church is in the shape of a cross; and at the end of each of the +transepts, is a rich altar, with statuary, in the style of art usual +about a century ago. The pews--made of dark mahogany or walnut tree, +much after the English fashion, but lower and more tasteful--are placed +on each side of the nave, or entering; with ample space between them. +They are exclusively appropriated to the tenants of the monastery. At +the end of the nave, you look to the left, opposite--and observe, placed +in a recess--a pulpit, which, from top to bottom, is completely covered +with gold. And yet, there is nothing gaudy or tasteless, or glaringly +obtrusive, in this extraordinary clerical rostrum. The whole is in the +most perfect taste; and perhaps more judgment was required to manage +such an ornament, or appendage--consistently with the splendid style +of decoration exacted by the founder, for it was expressly the Prelate +Dietmayr's wish that it should be so adorned,--than may on first +consideration be supposed. In fact, the whole church is in a blaze +of gold; and I was told that the gilding alone cost upward of ninety +thousand florins. Upon the whole, I understood that the church of this +monastery was considered as the most beautiful in Austria; and I can +easily believe it to be so. + + +THROUGH THE TYROL[23] + +BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT + +I left this most pleasing of the Italian cities (Venice), and took the +road for the Tyrol. We passed through a level fertile country, formerly +the territory of Venice, watered by the Piave, which ran blood in one of +Bonaparte's battles. At evening we arrived at Ceneda, where our Italian +poet Da Ponte[24] was born, situated just at the base of the Alps, the +rocky peaks and irregular spires of which, beautifully green with the +showery season, rose in the background. Ceneda seems to have something +of German cleanliness about it, and the floors of a very comfortable inn +at which we stopt were of wood, the first we had seen in Italy, tho' +common throughout Tyrol and the rest of Germany. A troop of barelegged +boys, just broke loose from school, whooping and swinging their books +and slates in the air, passed under my window. + +On leaving Ceneda, we entered a pass in the mountains, the gorge of +which was occupied by the ancient town of Serravalle, resting on +arcades, the architecture of which denoted that it was built during the +Middle Ages. Near it I remarked an old castle, which formerly commanded +the pass, one of the finest ruins of the kind I had ever seen. It had a +considerable extent of battlemented wall in perfect preservation, and +both that and its circular tower were so luxuriantly loaded with ivy +that they seemed almost to have been cut out of the living verdure. +As we proceeded we became aware how worthy this region was to be the +birthplace of a poet. + +A rapid stream, a branch of the Piave, tinged of a light and somewhat +turbid blue by the soil of the mountains, came tumbling and roaring +down the narrow valley; perpendicular precipices rose on each side; and +beyond, the gigantic brotherhood of the Alps, in two long files of steep +pointed summits, divided by deep ravines, stretched away in the sunshine +to the northeast. In the face of one of the precipices by the way-side, +a marble slab is fixt, informing the traveler that the road was opened +by the late Emperor of Germany in the year of 1830. We followed this +romantic valley for a considerable distance, passing several little blue +lakes lying in their granite basins, one of which is called the "Lago +Morto" or Dead Lake, from having no outlet for its waters. + +At length we began to ascend, by a winding road, the steep sides of the +Alps--the prospect enlarging as we went, the mountain summits rising to +sight around us, one behind another, some of them white with snow, over +which the wind blew with a wintry keenness--deep valleys opening +below us, and gulfs yawning between rocks over which old bridges were +thrown--and solemn fir forests clothing the broad declivities. The +farm-houses placed on these heights, instead of being of brick or stone, +as in the plains and valleys below, were principally built of wood; +the second story, which served for a barn, being encircled by a long +gallery, and covered with a projecting roof of plank held down with +large stones. + +We stopt at Venas, a wretched place with a wretched inn, the hostess +of which showed us a chin swollen with the goitre, and ushered us into +dirty comfortless rooms where we passed the night. When we awoke the +rain was beating against the windows, and, on looking out, the forest +and sides of the neighboring mountains, at a little height above us, +appeared hoary with snow. We set out in the rain, but had not proceeded +far before we heard the sleet striking against the windows of the +carriage, and soon came to where the snow covered the ground to the +depth of one or two inches. + +Continuing to ascend, we passed out of Italy and entered the Tyrol. The +storm had ceased before we went through the first Tyrolese village, and +we could not help being struck with the change in the appearance of the +inhabitants--the different costume, the less erect figures, the awkward +gait, the lighter complexions, the neatly-kept inhabitations, and the +absence of beggars. As we advanced, the clouds began to roll off from +the landscape, disclosing here and there, through openings in their +broad skirts as they swept along, glimpses of the profound valleys below +us, and of the white sides and summits of mountains in the mid-sky +above. At length the sun appeared, and revealed a prospect of such +wildness, grandeur, and splendor as I have never before seen. + +Lofty peaks of the most fantastic shapes, with deep clefts between, +sharp needles of rock, and overhanging crags, infinite in multitude, +shot up everywhere around us, glistening in the new-fallen snow, with +thin wreaths of mist creeping along their sides. At intervals, swollen +torrents, looking at a distance like long trains of foam, came +thundering down the mountains, and crossing the road, plunged into the +verdant valleys which winded beneath. Beside the highway were fields +of young grain, prest to the ground with the snow; and in the meadows, +ranunculuses of the size of roses, large yellow violets, and a thousand +other Alpine flowers of the most brilliant hues, were peeping through +their white covering. + +We stopt to breakfast at a place called Landro, a solitary inn, in the +midst of this grand scenery, with a little chapel beside it. The water +from the dissolving snow was dropping merrily from the roof in a bright +June sun. We needed not to be told that we were in Germany, for we saw +it plainly enough in the nicely-washed floor of the apartment into which +we were shown, in the neat cupboard with the old prayer-book lying upon +it, and in the general appearance of housewifery; to say nothing of the +evidence we had in the beer and tobacco-smoke of the travelers' room, +and the guttural dialect and quiet tones of the guests. + +From Landro we descended gradually into the beautiful valleys of the +Tyrol, leaving the snow behind, tho' the white peaks of the mountains +were continually in sight. At Bruneck, in an inn resplendent with +neatness--we had the first specimen of a German bed. It is narrow and +short, and made so high at the head, by a number of huge square bolsters +and pillows, that you rather sit than lie. The principal covering is a +bag of down, very properly denominated the upper bed, and between this +and the feather-bed below, the traveler is expected to pass a night. An +asthmatic patient on a cold winter night might perhaps find such a couch +tolerably comfortable, if he could prevent the narrow covering from +slipping off on one side or the other. + +The next day we were afforded an opportunity of observing more closely +the inhabitants of this singular region, by a festival, or holiday of +some sort, which brought them into the roads in great numbers, arrayed +in their best dresses--the men in short jackets and small-clothes, with +broad gay-colored suspenders over their waistcoats, and leathern belts +ornamented with gold or silver leaf--the women in short petticoats +composed of horizontal bands of different colors--and both sexes, for +the most part, wearing broad-brimmed hats with hemispherical crowns, +tho' there was a sugar-loaf variety much affected by the men, adorned +with a band of lace and sometimes a knot of flowers. They are a robust, +healthy-looking race, tho' they have an awkward stoop in the shoulders. +But what struck me most forcibly was the devotional habits of the +people. + +The Tyrolese might be cited as an illustration of the remark, that +mountaineers are more habitually and profoundly religious than others. +Persons of all sexes, young and old, whom we meet in the road, were +repeating their prayers audibly. We passed a troop of old women, all in +broad-brimmed hats and short gray petticoats, carrying long staves, one +of whom held a bead-roll and gave out the prayers, to which the others +made the responses in chorus. They looked at us so solemnly from under +their broad brims, and marched along with so grave and deliberate a +pace, that I could hardly help fancying that the wicked Austrians had +caught a dozen elders of the respectable Society of Friends, and put +them in petticoats to punish them for their heresy. We afterward saw +persons going to the labors of the day, or returning, telling their +rosaries and saying their prayers as they went, as if their devotions +had been their favorite amusement. At regular intervals of about half a +mile, we saw wooden crucifixes erected by the way-side, covered from the +weather with little sheds, bearing the image of the Savior, crowned with +thorns and frightfully dashed with streaks and drops of red paint, to +represent the blood that flowed from his wounds. The outer walls of the +better kind of houses were ornamented with paintings in fresco, and the +subjects of these were mostly sacred, such as the Virgin and Child, the +Crucifixion, and the Ascension. The number of houses of worship was +surprising; I do not mean spacious or stately churches such as we meet +with in Italy, but most commonly little chapels dispersed so as best to +accommodate the population. Of these the smallest neighborhood has one +for the morning devotions of its inhabitants, and even the solitary inn +has its little consecrated building with its miniature spire, for the +convenience of pious wayfarers. + +At Sterzing, a little village beautifully situated at the base of the +mountain called the Brenner, and containing, as I should judge, not more +than two or three thousand inhabitants, we counted seven churches and +chapels within the compass of a square mile. The observances of the +Roman Catholic church are nowhere more rigidly complied with than in the +Tyrol. When we stopt at Bruneck on Friday evening, I happened to drop +a word about a little meat for dinner in a conversation with the +spruce-looking landlady, who appeared so shocked that I gave up the +point, on the promise of some excellent and remarkably well-flavored +trout from the stream that flowed through the village--a promise that +was literally fulfilled.... + +We descended the Brenner on the 28th of June in a snow-storm, the wind +whirling the light flakes in the air as it does with us in winter. It +changed to rain, however, as we approached the beautiful and picturesque +valley watered by the river Inn, on the banks of which stands the fine +old town of Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol. Here we visited the +Church of the Holy Cross, in which is the bronze tomb of Maxmilian I. +and twenty or thirty bronze statues ranged on each side of the nave, +representing fierce warrior-chiefs, and gowned prelates, and stately +damsels of the middle ages. These are all curious for the costume; the +warriors are cased in various kinds of ancient armor, and brandish +various ancient weapons, and the robes of the females are flowing and by +no means ungraceful. Almost every one of the statues has its hands and +fingers in some constrained and awkward position; as if the artist knew +as little what to do with them as some awkward and bashful people know +what to do with their own. Such a crowd of figures in that ancient garb, +occupying the floor in the midst of the living worshipers of the present +day, has an effect which at first is startling. + +From Innsbruck we climbed and crossed another mountain-ridge, scarcely +less wild and majestic in its scenery than those we had left behind. On +descending, we observed that the crucifixes had disappeared from the +roads, and the broad-brimmed and sugar-loaf hats from the heads of the +peasantry; the men wore hats contracted in the middle of the crown like +an hour-glass, and the women caps edged with a broad band of black fur, +the frescoes on the outside of the houses became less frequent; in short +it was apparent that we had entered a different region, even if the +custom-house and police officers on the frontier had not signified to us +that we were now in the kingdom of Bavaria. We passed through extensive +forests of fir, here and there checkered with farms, and finally came +to the broad elevated plain bathed by the Isar, in which Munich is +situated. + + +IN THE DOLOMITES[25] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +The Dolomites are part of the Southern Tyrol. One portion is Italian, +one portion is Austrian, and the rivalry of the two nations is keen. +Under a warm summer sun, the quaint little villages seem half asleep, +and the inhabitants appear to drift dreamily through life. Yet this is +more apparent than real for, in many respects, the people here are busy +in their own way. + +Crossing this region are many mountain ranges of limestone structure, +which by water, weather and other causes have been worn away into the +most fantastic fissures and clefts and the most picturesque peaks and +pinnacles. A very great charm is their curious coloring, often of great +beauty. The region of the Dolomites is a great contrast to the rest of +the Alps. Its characteristics do not make the same appeal to all. This +is largely not only a matter of individual taste and temperament but +also of one's mental or spiritual constitution, for the picture with its +setting depends as much upon what it suggests as upon its constituent +parts. The Dolomites suggest Italy in the contour of the country, in the +grace of the inhabitants and in the colors which make the scene one of +rich magnificence. The great artist Titian was born here[26] and he +probably learned much from his observation of his native place. + +Many of the mountain ranges are of the usual gray but such is the +atmospheric condition that they seem to reflect the rosy rays of the +setting sun or the purplish haze that often is found. The peaks are not +great peaks in the sense that we speak of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, +the Matterhorn or Monte Rosa. They impress one more as pictures with +wonderful lights and strange grouping.... + +If the reader intends some day to visit the Dolomites he is advised to +enter from the north. Salzburg and the Salzkammergut, so much frequented +by the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Austrian nobility, make a good +introduction. Then by way of Innsbruck, one of the gems of the Tyrol, +Toblach is reached, where the driving tour may properly begin. Toblach +is a lovely place, if one stops long enough to see it and enjoy it! It +is not very far to Cortina, the center of this beautiful region. The way +there is very lovely. And driving is in keeping with the spirit of the +place. It almost seems profane to rush through in a motor, as some do, +for not only is it impossible to appreciate the scenery, but also it is +out of harmony with the peace and quiet which reign. + +For a while there is traversed a little valley quite embowered in green, +but presently this abruptly leads into a wild gorge, with jagged peaks +on every side. Soon Monte Cristallo appears. This is the most striking +of all the Dolomite peaks. At a tiny village, called Schluderbach, the +road forks, that to the right going directly to Cortina, the other to +the left proceeding by way of Lake Misurina. Lake Misurina is a pretty +stretch of water, pale green in color and at an altitude of about 5,800 +feet. On its shores are two very attractive and well-kept hotels, with +charming walks, from which one looks on a splendid panorama, picturesque +in extreme. + +From Misurina, the road again ascends, becoming very narrow and very +steep. The top is called "Passo Tre Croci," the Pass of the Three +Crosses. The outlook is very lovely, with the three serrated peaks Monte +Cristallo, Monte Piano and Monte Tofana, standing as guardian sentinels +over the little valley of Ampezzo far below, where lies Cortina +sleeping in the sun, while in the distance shine the snow fields of the +Marmolata. Just as steeply as it climbed up one side, the road descends +on the other side, to Cortina. This place is the capital of the valley +and altogether lovely; beautiful in its woods and meadows, beautiful in +its mountain views, beautiful in the town itself and beautiful in its +people. + +Cortina has much to boast of--an ancient church and some old houses; an +industrial school in which the villagers are taught the most delicate +and artistic (and withal comparatively cheap) filigree mosaic work; and +a community of people, handsome in face and figure and possessing +a carriage and refinement superior to any seen elsewhere among the +mountaineers or peasantry. In the neighborhood of Cortina are many +excursions and also extended rock climbs, but those who go there in the +summer will be more apt to linger lazily amid the cool shade of the +trees than to brave the hot Italian sun on the peaks! + +After a few days' stay at Cortina, the drive is continued. There are +many ways out. You can return by a new route to Toblach and the Upper +Tyrol. Or you can go south to Belluno and thence to northern Italy. Or +a third way and perhaps the finest tour of all is that over a series of +magnificent mountain passes to Botzen. This last crosses the Ampezzo +Valley and then begins the ascent of Monte Tofana, which here is +beautifully wooded. Steepness seems characteristic of this region! + +It is hard to imagine a carriage climbing a road any steeper than that +one on the slopes of Monte Tofana! If narrow and steep is the way and +hard and toilsome the climb this Monte Tofana route most certainly +repays one when it reaches the Falzarego Pass (6,945 feet high) which is +certainly an earthly Paradise! One can not aptly describe a view like +that! It is all a picture; as if every part was purposely what it is, +here rocky, here green, here snowy, with summits, valleys, ravines and +villages and even a partly ruined castle to form a whole such as an +artist or poet would revel in. + +After a pause on the summit of the Pass, again comes a steep descent, +as the drive is resumed, which continues to Andraz, where djeuner +is taken. One can not live on air or scenery and even the most +indefatigable sightseer sometimes turns with longing to luncheon! Then +one returns with added zest to the feast of eye and soul. And at Andraz, +as one lingers awhile after luncheon on that high mountain terrace, +a lovelier scene than that spread before the eye could scarcely be +imagined. Indeed it is a "dream-scene," and as seen in the sleepy +stillness of the early afternoon, when the shadows are already playing +with the lights and gradually overcoming them, it seems like fancy, not +reality. + +Again the carriage is taken and soon the road is climbing once more, +this time giving fine views of the Sella group of peaks and going +through a series of picturesque valleys. At Arabba (5,255 feet), a +pretty little village, the final ascent to Pordoi begins. The +scenery undergoes a change. It becomes more wild and barren and the +characteristics of the high Alps appear. The hour begins to be late and +it becomes cold, but the light still lingers as the carriage reaches the +summit of the pass and stops at the new Htel Pordoi (7,020 feet high) +facing the weird, fantastic shapes of the Rosengarten and the Langkofel, +on the one side and on the other the snowy Marmolata and the summits +about Cortina.... + +The following morning the start is made for Botzen. The way steadily +descends for hours, past the pretty hamlets of Canazei, Campitello and +Vigo di Fassa, surrounded by an imposing array of Dolomite peaks. After +crossing the Karer Pass the scenery becomes much more soft and pastoral. +Below the pass, most beautifully situated is a little green lake called +the Karer-See.... + +At Botzen the drive through the Dolomites ends. At best it gives but +a glimpse of this delightful region! That glimpse leaves a lasting +impression, not of snowy summits and glistening glaciers, but of +wonderful rocks and more wonderful coloring and of great peaks of +fantastic form, set in a garden spot of green. And Botzen is a fitting +terminus. It dates far back to the Middle Ages. It boasts of churches, +houses and public buildings of artistic merit and architectural beauty +and over all there lingers an atmosphere of rest and refinement, +refreshing to see, where there might have been the noisy bustle and +hopeless vulgarity of so many places similarly situated. + +There is plenty going on, nevertheless, for Botzen is quite a little +commercial center in its own way, but with it there is this charm +of dignified repose. One wanders through the town under the cool +colonnades, strolls into some ancient cloisters, kneels for a moment in +some finely carved church and then goes out again to the open, to see +far above the little city that beautiful background of the Dolomite +peaks, dominated by the wonderfully impressive and fantastic Rosengarten +range, golden red in the western sun. With such a view experience may +well lapse into memory, to linger on so long as the mind possesses the +power of recalling the past. + + +CORTINA[27] + +BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS + +Situate on the left bank of the Boita, which here runs nearly due north +and south, with the Tre Croci pass opening away behind the town to the +east, and the Tre Sassi Pass widening before it to the west, Cortina +lies in a comparatively open space between four great mountains, and is +therefore less liable to danger from bergfalls than any other village +not only in the Val d'Ampezo but in the whole adjacent district. For +the same reason, it is cooler in summer than either Caprile, Agordo, +Primiero, or Predazzo; all of which, tho' more central as stopping +places, and in many respects more convenient, are yet somewhat too +closely hemmed in by surrounding heights. The climate of Cortina is +temperate throughout the year. Ball gives the village an elevation of +4,048 feet above the level of the sea; and one of the parish priests--an +intelligent old man who has devoted many years of his life to collecting +the flora of the Ampezzo--assured me that he had never known the +thermometer drop so low as fifteen degrees[28] of frost in even the +coldest winters. The soil, for all this, has a bleak and barren look; +the maize (here called "grano Turco") is cultivated, but does not +flourish; and the vine is unknown. But then agriculture is not a +specialty of the Ampezzo Thal, and the wealth of Cortina is derived +essentially from its pasture-lands and forests. + +These last, in consequence of the increased and increasing value of +timber, have been lavishly cut down of late years by the Commune--too +probably at the expense of the future interests of Cortina. For the +present, however, every inn, homestead, and public building bespeaks +prosperity. The inhabitants are well-fed and well-drest. Their fairs +and festivals are the most considerable in all the South Eastern Tyrol; +their principal church is the largest this side of St. Ulrich; and their +new Gothic Campanile, 250 feet high, might suitably adorn the piazza of +such cities as Bergamo or Belluno. + +The village contains about 700 souls, but the population of the Commune +numbers over 2,500. Of these, the greater part, old and young, rich and +poor, men, women, and children, are engaged in the timber trade. Some +cut the wood; some transport it. The wealthy convey it on trucks drawn +by fine horses which, however, are cruelly overworked. The poor harness +themselves six or eight in a team, men, women, and boys together, and +so, under the burning summer sun, drag loads that look as if they might +be too much for an elephant.... + +To ascend the Campanile and get the near view over the village, was +obviously one of the first duties of a visitor; so, finding the door +open and the old bellringer inside, we mounted laboriously to the +top--nearly a hundred feet higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. +Standing here upon the outer gallery above the level of the great +bells, we had the village and valley at our feet. The panorama, tho' it +included little which we had not seen already, was fine all around, and +served to impress the mainland marks upon our memory. The Ampezzo Thal +opened away to north and south, and the twin passes of the Tre Croci and +Tre Sassi intersected it to east and west. When we had fixt in our minds +the fact that Landro and Bruneck lay out to the north, and Perarolo to +the south; that Auronzo was to be found somewhere on the other side of +the Tre Croci; and that to arrive at Caprile it was necessary to go over +the Tre Sassi, we had gained something in the way of definite topography. +The Marmolata and Civetta, as we knew by our maps, were on the side +of Caprile; and the Marmarole on the side of Auronzo. The Pelmo, left +behind yesterday, was peeping even now above the ridge of the Rochetta; +and a group of fantastic rocks, so like the towers and bastions of a +ruined castle that we took them at first sight for the remains of some +medieval stronghold, marked the summit of the Tre Sassi to the west. + +"But what mountain is that far away to the south?" we asked, pointing in +the direction of Perarolo. + +"Which mountain, Signora?" + +"That one yonder, like a cathedral front with two towers." + +The old bellringer shaded his eyes with one trembling hand, and peered +down the valley. + +"Eh," he said, "it is some mountain on the Italian side." + +"But what is it called?" + +"Eh," he repeated, with a puzzled look, "who knows? I don't know that I +ever noticed it before." + +Now it was a very singular mountain--one of the most singular and the +most striking that we saw throughout the tour. It was exactly like +the front of Notre Dame, with one slender aiguille, like a flagstaff, +shooting up from the top of one of its battlemented towers. It was +conspicuous from most points on the left bank of the Boita; but the best +view, as I soon after discovered, was from the rising ground behind +Cortina, going up through the fields in the direction of the Begontina +torrent. + +To this spot we returned again and again, fascinated as much, perhaps, +by the mystery in which it was enveloped, as by the majestic outline of +this unknown mountain, to which, for want of a better, we gave the name +of Notre Dame. For the old bellringer was not alone in his ignorance. +Ask whom we would, we invariably received the same vague reply--it was +a mountain "on the Italian side." They knew no more; and some, like our +friend of the Campanile, had evidently "not noticed it before." + + + +IX + +ALPINE RESORTS + +THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS[29] + +BY FREDERIC HARRISON + +Once more--perhaps for the last time--I listen to the unnumbered +tinkling of the cow-bells on the slopes--"the sweet bells of the +sauntering herd"--to the music of the cicadas in the sunshine, and the +shouts of the neat herdlads, echoing back from Alp to Alp. I hear the +bubbling of the mountain rill, I watch the emerald moss of the pastures +gleaming in the light, and now and then the soft white mist creeping +along the glen, as our poet says, "puts forth an arm and creeps from +pine to pine." And see, the wild flowers, even in this waning season of +the year, the delicate lilac of the dear autumn crocus, which seems to +start up elf-like out of the lush grass, the coral beads of the rowan, +and the beech-trees just begun to wear their autumn jewelry of old gold. + +As I stroll about these hills, more leisurely, more thoughtfully than I +used to do of old in my hot mountaineering days, I have tried to think +out what it is that makes the Alpine landscape so marvelous a tonic to +the spirit--what is the special charm of it to those who have once felt +all its inexhaustible magic. Other lands have rare beauties, wonders of +their own, sights to live in the memory for ever. + +In France, in Italy, in Spain, in Greece and in Turkey, I hold in memory +many a superb landscape. From boyhood upward I thirsted for all kinds of +Nature's gifts, whether by sea, or by river, lake, mountain, or forest. +For sixty years at least I have roved about the white cliffs, the moors, +the riversides, lakes, and pastures of our own islands from Penzance to +Cape Wrath, from Beachy Head to the Shetlands. I love them all. But +they can not touch me, as do the Alps, with the sense at once of +inexhaustible loveliness and of a sort of conscious sympathy with every +fiber of man's heart and brain. Why then is this so? + +I find it in the immense range of the moods in which Nature is seen +in the Alps, as least by those who have fully absorbed all the forms, +sights, sounds, wonders, and adventures they offer. An hour's walk will +show them all in profound contrast and yet in exquisite harmony. The +Alps form a book of Nature as wide and as mysterious as Life. + +Earth has no scenes of placid fruitfulness more balmy than the banks of +one of the larger lakes, crowded with vineyards, orchards, groves and +pastures, down to the edge of its watery mirror, wherein, beside a +semi-tropical vegetation, we see the image of some medieval castle, of +some historic tower, and thence the eye strays up to sunless gorges, +swept with avalanches, and steaming with feathery cascades; and higher +yet one sees against the skyline ranges of terrific crags, girt with +glaciers, and so often wreathed in storm clouds. + +All that Earth has of most sweet, softest, easiest, most suggestive of +langor and love, of fertility and abundance--here is seen in one vision +beside all that Nature has most hard, most cruel, most unkind to +Man--where life is one long weary battle with a frost bitten soil, and +every peasant's hut has been built up stone by stone, and log by log, +with sweat and groans, and wrecked hopes. In a few hours one may pass +from an enchanted garden, where every sense is satiated, and every +flower and leaf and gleam of light is intoxication, up into a wilderness +of difficult crags and yawning glaciers, which men can reach only by +hard-earned skill, tough muscle and iron nerves.... + +The Alps are international, European, Humanitarian. Four written +languages are spoken in their valleys, and ten times as many local +dialects. The Alps are not especially Swiss--I used to think they were +English--they belong equally to four nations of Europe; they are the +sanatorium and the diversorium of the civilized world, the refuge, the +asylum, the second home of men and women famous throughout the centuries +for arts, literature, thought, religion. The poet, the philosopher, +the dreamer, the patriot, the exile, the bereaved, the reformer, the +prophet, the hero--have all found in the Alps a haven of rest, a new +home where the wicked cease from troubling, where men need neither fear +nor suffer. The happy and the thoughtless, the thinker and the sick--are +alike at home here. The patriot exile inscribed on his house on Lake +Leman--"Every land is fatherland to the brave man." What he might have +written is--"This land is fatherland to all men." To young and old, +to strong and weak, to wise and foolish alike, the Alps are a second +fatherland. + + +INTERLAKEN AND THE JUNGFRAU[30] + +B.T. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +It is hard to find a prettier spot than Interlaken. Situated between two +lovely lakes, surrounded by wooded heights, and lying but a few miles +from the snowy Jungfrau, it is like a jewel richly set. From Lucerne +over the Brunig, from Meiringen over the Grimsel come the travelers, +passing on their way the Lake of Brienz, with the waterfall of the +Giessbach, on its southern side. + +From Berne over Lake Thun, from the Rhne Valley over the Gemmi or +through the Simmenthal come the tourists, seeing as they come the white +peaks of the Oberland. And Interlaken welcomes them all, and rests them +for their closer relations with the High Alps by trips to the region +of the Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, and Mrren, and the great mountain +plateaux looking down upon them. Interlaken is not a climbing center. +Consequently mountaineering is little in evidence, conversation about +ascents is seldom heard, and ice-axes, ropes, and nailed boots are seen +more often in shop windows than in the streets. + +Interlaken is not like some other Swiss towns. Berne, Geneva, Zurich, +and Lucerne are places possessing notable churches, museums, and +monuments of the past, having a social life of their own and being +distinguished in some special way, as centers of culture and education. +Interlaken, however, has little life apart from that made by the throngs +of visitors who gather here in the summer. There is little to see except +a group of old monastic buildings, and in Unterseen and elsewhere some +fine old carved chalets, but none of these receives much attention. + +The attraction, on what one may call the natural side, centers in the +softly beautiful panorama of woods and meadows, green hills and snow +peaks which opens to the eye, and on the social side in the busy little +promenade and park of the Hheweg, bordered with hotels, shops, and +gardens. Here is ever a changing picture in the height of the season, +in fact, quite kaleidoscopic as railways and steamboats at each end of +Interlaken send their passengers to mingle in the passing crowd. +All "sorts and conditions of men" are here, and representatives of +antagonistic nations meet in friendly intercourse. + +On the hotel terraces and in the little cafs and tea rooms, one hears +a babel of voices, every nation of Europe seeming to speak in its own +native tongue. Life goes easily. There is a gaiety in the little town +that is infectious. It is a sort of busy idleness. "To trip or not to +trip" is the question. If the affirmative, then a rush to the mountain +trains and comfortable cabs. If the negative, then a turning to the +shops, where pretty things worthy of Paris or London are seen side +by side with Swiss carvings and Swiss embroidery and many little +superficial souvenirs. As the contents of the shops are exhibited in the +windows, so the character of the visitors is shown by the crowds, and +the life of the place is seen in the constant ebb and flow of the people +on the Hheweg. + +Interlaken is undoubtedly a tourist center, for few trips to Switzerland +overlook or omit this delightful spot. Thousands come here, who never go +any nearer the High Alps. They are quite content to sit on the benches +of the Hheweg, listening to the music and enjoying the view. There is a +casino, most artistically planned, with plashing fountains, shady paths, +and wonderful flowerbeds. Here many persons pass the day, and, contrary +to what one might expect, it is quiet and restful, lounging in that +parklike garden. + +For, notwithstanding "the madding crowd," Interlaken is a little gem of +a mountain town, with an undertone of repose and nobility, as if the +spirit of the Alps asserted herself, reigning, as one might say, for +all not ruling. And always smiling at the people, as it were, is the +majestic Jungfrau, ever seeming close at hand, altho' eight miles +away.... + +The pleasures of this little Swiss resort are exhaustless. The wooded +hills of the Rugen give innumerable walks amid beautiful forests, with +all their wealth of pine and larch and hardwood, their moss-clad rocks +and waving ferns. In that pleasant shade hours may be passed close +to nature. The lakes not only offer delightful water trips, but also +charming excursions along the wooded shores, sometimes high above +the lakes, giving varying views of great beauty. While, ever as with +beckoning fingers, the great peaks, snow-capped or rock-summitted, call +one across the verdant meadows into the higher valleys of Kienthal, +Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwaid, and Kandersteg, to the terraced heights +above or up amid the great wild passes. + +Interlaken is, above all, a garden of green. Perhaps the unusual amount +of rain which falls to the lot of this valley accounts for its verdure. +In any event, park, woods, meadow, garden, even the mountain sides are +green, a vari-colored green, and interspersed with an abundance +of flowers. Nowhere is the eye offended by anything inartistic or +unpicturesque, but, on the contrary, the charm is so comprehensive that +the visitor looks from place to place, from this bit to that bit, and +ever sees new beauty. + +To complete all, to accentuate in the minds of some this impression of +green, is the majestic Jungfrau. Other views may be grander and more +magnificent, but no view of the Jungfrau can compare in loveliness to +that from Interlaken. A great white glistening mass, far up above green +meadows, green forests, and green mountains, rises this peak, a shining +summit of white. Fitly named the Virgin, the Jungfrau gives her +benediction to Interlaken, serenely smiling at the valley and at the +town lying so quietly at her feet--the Jungfrau crowned with snow, +Interlaken drest in green! + +In the golden glory of the sun, in the silver shimmer of the moon, the +Jungfrau beckons, the Jungfrau calls! "Come," she seems to say, "come +nearer! Come up to the heights! Come close to the running waters! +Come." And that invitation falls on no unwilling ears, but in to the +Grindelwald and to the Lauterbrunnen and up to Mrren go those who love +the majestic Jungfrau! What a wonderful trip this is! It may shatter +some ideals in being taken to such a height in a railway train, but even +against one's convictions as to the proper way of seeing a mountain, +when all has been said, the fact remains that this trip is wonderful +beyond words. There is a strangeness in taking a train which leaves a +garden of green in the early morning and in a few hours later, after +valley and pass and tunnel, puts one out on snow fields over 11,000 feet +above the sea, where are seen vast stretches of white, almost level with +the summit of the Jungfrau close at hand, and below, stretching for +miles, on the one side the great Aletsch Glacier, and on the other side +the green valleys enclosed by the everlasting hills! + +The route is by way of Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and the Scheidegg, and +after skirting the Eiger Glacier going by tunnel into the very bowels of +the mountain. At Eigerwand, Rotstock, and Eismeer are stations, great +galleries blasted out of the rock, with corridors leading to openings +from which one has marvelous views.[31] Eismeer looks directly upon the +huge sea of snow and ice, with immense masses of dazzling white so close +as to make one reel with awe and astonishment. In fact, this view is +really oppressive in its wild magnificence, so near and so grand is it. +The Jungfraujoch is different. One is out in the open, so to speak; +one walks over that vast plateau of snow over 11,000 feet high in the +glorious sunlight, above most of the nearer peaks and looking down at a +beautiful panorama. On one side of this plateau is the Jungfrau, on the +other the Mnch, either of which can be climbed from here in about three +hours. + +Yet the eye lingers longer in the direction of the Aletsch Glacier than +anywhere else, this frozen river running for miles and turning to the +right at the little green basin of water full of pieces of floating ice, +called the Marjelen Lake, or See, at the foot of the Eggishorn, which is +unique and lovely. Long ago it was formed in this corner of the glacier, +and its blue waters are really melted snow, over which float icebergs +shining in the sun. In such a position the lake underlaps the glacier +for quite a distance, forming a low vaulted cavern in the ice. Every now +and then one of these little bergs overbalances itself and turns over, +the upper side then being a deep blue, and the lower side, which was +formerly above, being a pure white. + +Again turning toward the green valleys, one with the eye of an artist, +who can perceive and differentiate varying shades of color, can not but +admit that the Bernese Oberland is "par excellence" first. Even south of +the Alps the verdure does not excel or even equal that to be seen here. +There is something incomparably lovely about the Oberland valleys. It +is indescribable, indefinable, for when one has exhausted the most +extravagant terms of description, he feels that he has failed to picture +the scene as he desired. Yet if one word should be chosen to convey the +impression which the Oberland makes, the word would be "color." For +whether one regards the snow summits as setting off the valleys, or the +green meadows as setting off the peaks, it matters not, for the secret +of their beauty lies in the richness and variety of the exquisite +coloring wherein many wonderful shades of green predominate. + + +THE ALTDORF OF WILLIAM TELL[32] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +Let it be said at once that, altho' the name of Altdorf is indissolubly +linked with that of William Tell, the place arouses an interest which +does not at all depend upon its associations with the famous archer. +From the very first it gives one the impression of possessing a distinct +personality, of ringing, as it were, to a note never heard before, and +thus challenging attention to its peculiarities. + +As you approach Altdorf from Flelen, on the Lake of Lucerne, by the +long white road, the first houses you reach are large structures of the +conventional village type, plain, but evidently the homes of well-to-do +people, and some even adorned with family coats-of-arms. In fact, this +street is dedicated to the aristocracy, and formerly went by the name +of the Herrengasse, the "Lane of the Lords." Beyond these fashionable +houses is an open square, upon which faces a cosy inn--named, of course, +after William Tell; and off on one side the large parish church, built +in cheap baroco style, but containing a few objects of interest.... + +There is a good deal of sight-seeing to be done in Altdorf, for so small +a place. In the town hall are shown the tattered flags carried by the +warriors of Uri in the early battles of the Confederation, the mace and +sword of state which are borne by the beadles to the Landsgemeinde. In +a somewhat inaccessible corner, a few houses off, the beginnings of a +museum have been made. Here is another portrait of interest--that of the +giant Pntener, a mercenary whose valor made him the terror of the enemy +in the battle of Marignano, in 1515; so that when he was finally killed, +they avenged themselves, according to a writing beneath the picture, by +using his fat to smear their weapons, and by feeding their horses with +oats from his carcass. Just outside the village stands the arsenal, +whence, they say, old armor was taken and turned into shovels, when the +St. Gothard Railroad was building, so poor and ignorant were the people. + +If you are of the sterner sex, you can also penetrate into the Capuchin +Monastery, and enter the gardens, where the terraces that rise behind +the buildings are almost Italian in appearance, festooned with vines and +radiant with roses. Not that the fame of this institution rests on such +trivial matters, however. The brothers boast of two things: theirs is +the oldest branch of the order in Switzerland, dating from 1581, and +they carry on in it the somewhat unappetizing industry of cultivating +snails for the gourmands of foreign countries. Above the Capuchins is +the famous Bannwald, mentioned by Schiller--a tract of forest on the +mountain-slope, in which no one is allowed to fell trees, because it +protects the village from avalanches and rolling stones. + +Nothing could be fairer than the outskirts of Altdorf on a May morning. +The valley of the Reuss lies bathed from end to end in a flood of +golden light, shining through an atmosphere of crystal purity. Daisies, +cowslips, and buttercups, the flowers of rural well-being, show through +the rising grass of the fields; along the hedges and crumbling walls +of the lanes peep timid primroses and violets, and in wilder spots the +Alpine gentian, intensely blue. High up, upon the mountains, glows the +indescribable velvet of the slopes, while, higher still, ragged and +vanishing patches of snow proclaim the rapid approach of summer. + +After all, the best part of Altdorf, to make an Irish bull, lies outside +of the village. No adequate idea of this strange little community can +be given without referring to the Almend, or village common. Indeed, +as time goes on, one learns to regard this Almend as the complete +expression and final summing up of all that is best in Altdorf, the +reconciliation of all its inconsistencies. + +How fine that great pasture beside the River Reus, with its short, +juicy, Alpine grass, in sight of the snow-capped Bristenstock, at one +end of the valley, and of the waters of Lake Lucerne at the other! In +May, the full-grown cattle have already departed for the higher summer +pastures, leaving only the feeble young behind, who are to follow as +soon as they have grown strong enough to bear the fatigues of the +journey. At this time, therefore, the Almend becomes a sort of vision +of youth--of calves, lambs, and foals, guarded by little boys, all +gamboling in the exuberance of early life. + + +LUCERNE[33] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +A height crowned with embattled ramparts that bristle with loop-holed +turrets; church towers mingling their graceful spires and peaceful +crosses with those warlike edifices; dazzling white villas, planted like +tents under curtains of verdure; tall houses with old red skylights on +the roofs--this is our first glimpse of the Catholic and warlike city of +Lucerne. We seem to be approaching some town of old feudal times that +has been left solitary and forgotten on the mountain side, outside of +the current of modern life. + +But when we pass through the station we find ourselves suddenly +transported to the side of the lake, where whole flotillas of large and +small boats lie moored on the blue waters of a large harbor. And along +the banks of this wonderful lake is a whole town of hotels, gay with +many colored flags, their terraces and balconies rising tier above +tier, like the galleries of a grand theater whose scenery is the mighty +Alps.... + +In summer Lucerne is the Hyde Park of Switzerland. Its quays are +thronged by people of every nation. There you meet pale women from the +lands of snow, and dark women from the lands of the sun; tall, six-foot +English women, and lively, alert, trim Parisian women, with the light +and graceful carriage of a bird on the bough. At certain hours this +promenade on the quays is like a charity fair or a rustic ball--bright +colors and airy draperies everywhere. + +Nowhere can the least calm and repose be found but in the old town. +There the gabled houses, with wooden galleries hanging over the waters +of the Reuss, make a charming ancient picture, like a bit of Venice set +down amid the verdant landscape of the valley. + +I also discovered on the heights beyond the ramparts a pretty and +peaceful convent of Capuchins, the way to which winds among wild plants, +starry with flowers. It is delicious to go right away, far from the town +swarming and running over with Londoners, Germans, and Americans, and to +find yourself among fragrant hedges, peopled by warblers whom it has +not yet occurred to the hotel-keepers to teach to sing in English. This +sweet path leads without fatigue to the convent of the good fathers. + +In a garden flooded with sunshine and balmy with the fragrance of +mignonette and vervain, where broad sunflowers erect their black +discs fringed with gold, two brothers with fan-shaped beards, their +brass-mounted spectacles astride on their flat noses, and arrayed in +green gardening aprons, are plying enormous watering-cans; while, in +the green and cool half-twilight under the shadowy trees, big, rubicund +brothers walk up and down, reading their red-edged breviaries in black +leather bindings. + +Happy monks! Not a fraction of a pessimist among them! How well they +understand life! A beautiful convent, beautiful nature, good wine and +good cheer, neither disturbance nor care; neither wife nor children; and +when they leave the world, heaven specially created for them, seraphim +waiting for them with harps of gold, and angels with urns of rose-water +to wash their feet! + +Lucerne began as a nest of monks, hidden in an orchard like a nest of +sparrows. The first house of the town was a monastery, erected by the +side of the lake. The nest grew, became a village, then a town, then a +city. The monks of Murbach, to whom the monastery of St. Leger belonged, +had got into debt; this sometimes does happen even to monks. They +sold to King Rudolf all the property they possest at Lucerne and in +Unterwalden; and thus the town passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs. + +When the first Cantons, after expelling the Austrian bailiffs, had +declared their independence, Lucerne was still one of Austria's advanced +posts. But its people were daily brought into contact with the shepherds +of the Forest Cantons, who came into the town to supply themselves with +provisions; and they were not long in beginning to ask themselves if +there was any reason why they should not be, as well as their neighbors, +absolutely free. The position of the partizans of Austria soon became so +precarious that they found it safe to leave the town.... + +The opening of the St. Gothard Railway has given a new impulse to this +cosmopolitan city, which has a great future before it. Already it has +supplanted Interlaken in the estimation of the furbelowed, fashionable +world--the women who come to Switzerland not to see but to be seen. +Lucerne is now the chief summer station of the twenty-two Cantons. And +yet it does not possess many objects of interest. There is the old +bridge on the Reuss, with its ancient paintings; the Church of St. +Leger, with its lateral altars and its Campo Santo, reminding us +of Italian cemeteries; the museum at the Town Hall, with its fine +collection of stained glass; the blood-stained standards from the +Burgundian wars, and the flag in which noble old Gundolfingen, after +charging his fellow-citizens never to elect their magistrates for more +than a year, wrapt himself as in a shroud of glory to die in the fight; +finally, there is the Lion of Lucerne; and that is all. + +The most wonderful thing of all is that you are allowed to see this lion +for nothing; for close beside it you are charged a franc for permission +to cast an indifferent glance on some uninteresting excavations, which +date, it is said, from the glacial period. We do not care if they do.... + +The great quay of Lucerne is delightful; as good as the seashore at +Dieppe or Trouville. Before you, limpid and blue, lies the lake, which +from the character of its shores, at once stern and graceful, is the +finest in Switzerland. In front rises the snow-clad peaks of Uri, to the +left the Rigi, to the right the austere Pilatus, almost always wearing +his high cap of clouds. This beautiful walk on the quay, long and shady +like the avenue of a gentleman's park, is the daily resort, toward four +o'clock, of all the foreigners who are crowded in the hotels or packed +in the boarding-houses. Here are Russian and Polish counts with long +mustaches, and pins set with false brilliants; Englishmen with fishes' +or horses' heads; Englishwomen with the figures of angels or of +giraffes; Parisian women, daintily attired, sprightly, and coquettish; +American women, free in their bearing, and eccentric in their dress, and +their men as stiff as the smoke-pipes of steamboats; German women, with +languishing voices, drooping and pale like willow branches, fair-haired +and blue-eyed, talking in the same breath of Goethe and the price of +sausages, of the moon and their glass of beer, of stars and black +radishes. And here and there are a few little Swiss girls, fresh and +rosy as wood strawberries, smiling darlings like Dresden shepherdesses, +dreaming of scenes of platonic love in a great garden adorned with the +statue of William Tell or General Dufour. + + +ZURICH[34] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +If you arrive in Zurich after dark, and pass along the river-front, +you will think yourself for a moment in Venice. The street lamps glow +responsively across the dark Limmat, or trail their light from the +bridges. In the uncertain darkness, the bare house walls of the farther +side put on the dignity of palaces. There are unsuspected architectural +glories in the Wasserkirche and the Rathhaus, as they stand partly in +the water of the river. And if, at such times, one of the long, narrow +barges of the place passes up stream, the illusion is complete; for, as +the boat cuts at intervals through the glare of gaslight it looks for +all the world like a gondola.... + +Zurich need not rely upon any fancied resemblance of this sort for a +distinct charm of its own. The situation of the city is essentially +beautiful, reminding one, in a general way, of that of Geneva, Lucerne, +or Thun--at the outlet of a lake, and at the point of issue of a +swift river. Approaching from the lakeside, the twin towers of the +Grossmnster loom upon the right, capped by ugly rounded tops, like +miters; upon the left, the simple spires of the Fraumnster and St. +Peter's. A conglomeration of roofs denotes the city houses. On the +water-front, extensive promenades stretch, crescent shaped, from end +to end, cleverly laid out, tho' as yet too new to quite fulfil their +mission of beauty. Some large white buildings form the front line on +the lake--notably the theater, and a few hotels and apartment houses. +Finally, there where the River Limmat leaves the lake, a vista of +bridges open into the heart of the city--a succession of arches and +lines that invite inspection. + +Like most progressive cities of Europe, Zurich has outgrown its feudal +accouterments within the last fifty years. It has razed its walls, +converted its bastions into playgrounds, and, pushing out on every side, +has incorporated many neighboring villages, until to-day it contains +more than ninety thousand inhabitants.[35] The pride of modern Zurich is +the Bahnhof-strasse, a long street which leads from the railroad station +to the lake. It is planted with trees, and counts as the one and only +boulevard of the city. Unfortunately, a good view of the distant snow +mountains is very rare from the lake promenade, altho' they appear with +distinctness upon the photographs sold in the shops. + +Early every Saturday the peasant women come trooping in, with their +vegetables, fruits, and flowers, to line the Bahnhof-strasse with carts +and baskets. The ladies and kitchen-maids of the city come to buy; but +by noon the market is over. In a jiffy, the street is swept as clean as +a kitchen floor, and the women have turned their backs on Zurich. But +the real center of attraction in Zurich will be found by the traveler in +that quarter where stands the Grossmnster, the church of which Zwingli +was incumbent for twelve years. + +It may well be called the Wittenberg church of Switzerland. The present +building dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries; but tradition +has it that the first minster was founded by Charlemagne. That +ubiquitous emperor certainly manifested great interest in Zurich. He +has been represented no less than three times in various parts of the +building. About midway up one of the towers, his statue appears in +a niche, where pigeons strut and prink their feathers, undisturbed. +Charlemagne is sitting with a mighty two-edged sword upon his knees, and +a gilded crown upon his head; but the figure is badly proportioned, and +the statue is a good-natured, stumpy affair, that makes one smile rather +than admire. The outside of the minster still shows traces of the image +breakers of Zwingli's time, and yet the crumbling north portal remains +beautiful, even in decay. As for the interior, it has an exceedingly +bare and stript appearance; for, altho' there is good, solid stonework +in the walls, the whole has been washed a foolish, Philistine white. The +Romanesque of the architectural is said to be of particular interest to +connoisseurs, and the queer archaic capitals must certainly attract the +notice even of ordinary tourists.... + +It is also worth while to go to the Helmhaus, and examine the collection +of lake-dwelling remains. In fact, there is a delightful little model of +a lake-dwelling itself, and an appliance to show you how those primitive +people could make holes in their stone implements, before they knew the +use of metals. The ancient guild houses of Zurich are worth a special +study. Take, for instance, that of the "Zimmerleute," or carpenter with +its supporting arches and little peaked tower; or the so-called "Waag," +with frescoed front; then the great wainscoated and paneled hall of the +"schmieden" (smiths); and the rich Renaissance stonework of the "Maurer" +(masons). These buildings, alas, with the decay of the system which +produced them, have been obliged to put up big signs of Caf Restaurant +upon their historic faades, like so many vulgar, modern eating-houses. + +The Rathhaus, or Town Hall, too, is charming. It stands, like the +Wasserkirche, with one side in the water and the other against the quay. +The style is a sort of reposeful Italian Renaissance, that is florid +only in the best artistic sense. Nor must you miss the so-called +"Rden," nearby, for its sloping roof and painted walls give it a very +captivating look of alert picturesqueness, and it contains a large +collection of Pestalozzi souvenirs. + +Zurich has more than one claim to the world's recognition; but no +department of its active life, perhaps, merits such unstinted praise as +its educational facilities. First and foremost, the University, with +four faculties, modeled upon the German system, but retaining certain +distinctive traits that are essentially Swiss--for instance, the broad +and liberal treatment accorded to women students, who are admitted as +freely as men, and receive the same instruction. A great number of +Russian girls are always to be seen in Zurich, as at other Swiss +universities, working unremittingly to acquire the degrees which +they are denied at home. Not a few American women also have availed +themselves of these facilities, especially for the study of medicine.... + +Zurich is, at the present time, undoubtedly the most important +commercial city in Switzerland, having distanced both Basel and Geneva +in this direction. The manufacturing of silk, woolen, and linen fabrics +has flourished here since the end of the thirteenth century. In modern +times, however, cotton and machinery have been added as staple articles +of manufacture. Much of the actual weaving is still done in outlying +parts of the Canton, in the very cottages of the peasants, so that +the click of the loom is heard from open windows in every village and +hamlet. + +But modern industrial processes are tending continually to drive the +weavers from their homes into great centralized factories, and every +year this inevitable change becomes more apparent. It is certainly +remarkable that Zurich should succeed in turning out cheap and good +machinery, when we remember that every ton of coal and iron has to be +imported, since Switzerland possesses not a single mine, either of the +one or the other. + + +THE RIGI[36] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +If you really want to know how the Swiss Confederation came to be, you +can not do better than take the train to the top of the Rigi. You might +stumble through many a volume, and not learn so thoroughly the essential +causes of this national birth. + +Of course, the eye rests first upon the phalanx of snow-crests to the +south, then down upon the lake, lying outstretched like some wriggling +monster, switching its tail, and finally off to the many places where +early Swiss history was made. In point of fact, you are looking at quite +a large slice of Switzerland. Victor Hugo seized the meaning of this +view when he wrote: "It is a serious hour, and full of meditations, when +one has Switzerland thus under the eyes." ... + +The physical features of a country have their counterparts in its +political institutions. In Switzerland the great mountain ranges divide +the territory into deep valleys, each of which naturally forms a +political unit--the Commune. Here is a miniature world, concentrated +into a small space, and representing the sum total of life to its +inhabitants. Self-government becomes second nature under these +conditions. A sort of patriarchal democracy is evolved: that is, certain +men and certain families are apt to maintain themselves at the head +of public affairs, but with the consent and cooperation of the whole +population. + +There is hardly a spot associated with the rise of the Swiss +Confederation whose position can not be determined from the Rigi. The +two Tell's chapels; the Rtli; the villages of Schwiz, Altdorf, Brunnen, +Beckenried, Stans, and Sarnen; the battlefields of Morgarten and +Sempach; and on a clear day the ruined castle of Hapsburg itself, lie +within a mighty circle at one's feet. + +It was preordained that the three lands of Uri, Schwiz, and Unterwalden +should unite for protection of common interests against the encroachment +of a common enemy--the ambitious house of Hapsburg. The lake formed at +once a bond and a highway between them. On the first day of August, +1291, more than six hundred years ago, a group of unpretentious +patriots, ignored by the great world, signed a document which formed +these lands into a loose Confederation. By this act they laid the +foundation upon which the Swiss state was afterward reared. In their +nave, but prophetic, faith, the contracting parties called this +agreement a perpetual pact; and they set forth, in the Latin, legal +phraseology of the day, that, seeing the malice of the times, they found +it necessary to take an oath to defend one another against outsiders, +and to keep order within their boundaries; at the same time carefully +stating that the object of the league was to maintain lawfully +established conditions. + +From small beginnings, the Confederation of Uri, Schwiz, and Unterwalden +grew, by the addition of other communities, until it reached its present +proportions, of twenty-two Cantons, in 1815. Lucerne was the first to +join; then came Zurich, Glarus, Zug, Bern, etc. The early Swiss did not +set up a sovereign republic, in our acceptation of the word, either in +internal or external policy. The class distinctions of the feudal age +continued to exist; and they by no means disputed the supreme rule of +the head of the German Empire over them, but rather gloried in the +protection which this direct dependence afforded them against a +multitude of intermediate, preying nobles. + + +CHAMOUNI--AN AVALANCHE[37] + +BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY + +From Servoz three leagues remain to Chamouni--Mont Blanc was before +us--the Alps, with their innumerable glaciers on high all around, +closing in the complicated windings of the single vale--forests +inexpressibly beautiful, but majestic in their beauty--intermingled +beech and pine, and oak, overshadowed our road, or receded, while lawns +of such verdure as I have never seen before occupied these openings, and +gradually became darker in their recesses. Mont Blanc was before us, but +it was covered with cloud; its base, furrowed with dreadful gaps, was +seen above. Pinnacles of snow intolerably bright, part of the chain +connected with Mont Blanc, shone through the clouds at intervals on +high. I never knew--I never imagined--what mountains were before. + +The immensity of these aerial summits excited, when they suddenly burst +upon the sight, a sentiment of ecstatic wonder, not unallied to madness. +And, remember, this was all one scene, it all prest home to our regard +and our imagination. Tho' it embraced a vast extent of space, the snowy +pyramids which shot into the bright blue sky seemed to overhang our +path; the ravine, clothed with gigantic pines, and black with its depth +below, so deep that the very roaring of the untameable Arve, which +rolled through it, could not be heard above--all was as much our own, as +if we had been the creators of such impressions in the minds of others +as now occupied our own. Nature was the poet, whose harmony held our +spirits more breathless than that of the divinest. + +As we entered the valley of the Chamouni (which, in fact, may be +considered as a continuation of those which we have followed from +Bonneville and Cluses), clouds hung upon the mountains at the distance +perhaps of 6,000 feet from the earth, but so as effectually to conceal +not only Mont Blanc, but the other "aiguilles," as they call them here, +attached and subordinate to it. We were traveling along the valley, when +suddenly we heard a sound as the burst of smothered thunder rolling +above; yet there was something in the sound that told us it could not +be thunder. Our guide hastily pointed out to us a part of the mountain +opposite, from whence the sound came. It was an avalanche. We saw the +smoke of its path among the rocks, and continued to hear at intervals +the bursting of its fall. It fell on the bed of a torrent, which it +displaced, and presently we saw its tawny-colored waters also spread +themselves over the ravine, which was their couch. + +We did not, as we intended, visit the Glacier des Bossons to-day, altho +it descends within a few minutes' walk of the road, wishing to survey it +at least when unfatigued. We saw this glacier, which comes close to the +fertile plain, as we passed. Its surface was broken into a thousand +unaccountable figures; conical and pyramidical crystallizations, more +than fifty feet in height, rise from its surface, and precipices of ice, +of dazzling splendor, overhang the woods and meadows of the vale. This +glacier winds upward from the valley, until it joins the masses of frost +from which it was produced above, winding through its own ravine like a +bright belt flung over the black region of pines. + +There is more in all these scenes than mere magnitude of proportion; +there is a majesty of outline; there is an awful grace in the very +colors which invest these wonderful shapes--a charm which is peculiar +to them, quite distinct even from the reality of their unutterable +greatness. + + +ZERMATT[38] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +Those who would reach the very heart of the Alps and look upon a scene +of unparalleled grandeur must go into the Valais to Zermatt. + +[Illustration: PONTRESINA IN THE ENGADINE] + +[Illustration: ST. MORITZ IN THE ENGADINE] + +[Illustration: FRIBOURG] + +[Illustration: BERNE] + +[Illustration: VIVEY ON LAKE GENEVA] + +[Illustration: THE TURNHALLE IN ZURICH Courtesy Swiss Federal Railway] + +[Illustration: INTERLAKEN] + +[Illustration: LUCERNE] + +[Illustration: VIADUCTS On the new Ltschberg route to the Simplon +tunnel] + +[Illustration: WOLFORT VIADUCT On the Pilatus Railroad, Switzerland] + +[Illustration: THE BALMAT-SAUSSURE MONUMENT IN CHAMONIX (Mont Blanc in +the distance)] + +[Illustration: ROOFED WOODEN BRIDGE AT LUCERNE] + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF CHILLON] + +[Illustration: CLOUD EFFECT ABOVE INTERLAKEN Courtesy Swiss Federal +Railway] + +[Illustration: DAVOS IN WINTER] + +The way up the valley is that which follows the River Visp. It is a +delightful journey. The little stream is never still. It will scarcely +keep confined to the banks or within the stone walls which in many +places protect the shores. The river dances along as if seeking to be +free. For the most part it is a torrent, sweeping swiftly past the +solid masonry and descending the steep bed in a series of wild leaps or +artificial waterfalls, with wonderful effects of sunlight seen in the +showers of spray. Fed as it is by many mountain streams, the Visp is +always full, and the more so, when in summer the melting ice adds to its +volume. + +Then it is a sight long remembered, as roaring, rollicking, rushing +along it is a brawling mass of waters, often working havoc with banks, +road, village, and pastures. If one never saw a mountain, the sight of +the Visp would more than repay, but, as it is, one's attention is taxed +to the uttermost not to miss anything of this little rushing river and +at the same time get the charming views of the Weisshorn, the Breithorn, +and the other snow summits which appear over the mountain spurs +surrounding the head of the valley. + +The first impression on reaching the Zermatt is one of disappointment. +Maps and pictures generally lead the traveler to think that from the +village he will see the great semicircle of snow peaks which surround +the valley, but upon arrival he finds that he must go further up to see +them, for all of them are hidden from view except the Matterhorn. + +This mountain, however, is seen in all its grandeur, fierce and +frowning, and to an imaginative mind bending forward as if threatening +and trying to shake off the little snow that appears here and there on +its side. It dominates the whole scene and leaves an indelible impress +on the mind, so that one can never picture Zermatt without the +Matterhorn. + +Zermatt as a place is a curious combination; a line of hotels in +juxtaposition with a village of chalets, unsophisticated peasants +shoulder to shoulder with people of fashion! There are funny little +shops, here showing only such simple things as are needed by the +dwellers in the Valais, there exhibiting really beautiful articles in +dress and jewelry to attract the summer visitors, while at convenient +spots are the inevitable tea-rooms, where "Th, Caf, Limonade, +Confiserie" minister to the coming crowds of an afternoon.... + +Guides galore wait in front of all the large hotels; ice-axes, ropes, +nailed boots, rucksacks, and all the paraphernalia of the mountains +are seen on every side, and a walk along the one main thoroughfare +introduces one into the life of a climbing center, interesting to a +degree and often very amusing from the miscellaneous collection of +people there. + +Perhaps the first thing one cares to see at Zermatt is the village +church, with the adjoining churchyard. The church, dedicated to Saint +Maurice, a favorite saint in the Valais and Rhne district, is plain +but interesting and in parts is quite old. Near it is a little mortuary +chapel. In most parts of Switzerland, it is the custom, after the bodies +of the dead have been buried a certain length of time, to remove the +remains to the "charnel house," allowing the graves to be used again +and thus not encroaching upon the space reserved and consecrated in the +churchyard, but we do not think this custom obtains at Zermatt. + +In the churchyard is a monument to Michel Auguste Croz, the guide, and +near by are the graves of the Reverend Charles Hudson and Mr. Hadow. +These three, with Lord Francis Douglas were killed in Mr. Whymper's +first ascent of the Matterhorn.[39] The body of Lord Francis Douglas +has never been found. It is probably deep in some crevasse or under the +snows which surround the base of the Matterhorn.... + +For the more extended climbs or for excursions in the direction of the +Schwarzsee, the Staffel Alp or the Trift, Zermatt is the starting point. +The place abounds in walks, most of them being the first part of the +routes to the high mountains, so that those who are fond of tramping but +not of climbing can reach high elevations with a little hard work, but +no great difficulty. Some of these "midway" places may be visited on +muleback, and with the railway now up to the Gorner-Grat there are few +persons who may not see this wonderful region of snow peaks. + +The trip to the Schwarzsee is the first stage on the Matterhorn route. +It leads through the village, past the Gorner Gorges (which one may +visit by a slight dtour) and then enters some very pretty woods, from +which one issues on to the bare green meadows which clothe the upper +part of the steep slope of the mountain. As one mounts this zigzag path, +it sometimes seems as if it would never end, and for all the magnificent +views which it affords, one is always glad that it is over, as it +exactly fulfils the conditions of a "grind." + +From the Schwarzsee (8,495 feet, where there is an excellent hotel), +there is a fine survey of the Matterhorn, and also a splendid panorama, +on three sides, one view up the glaciers toward the Monte Rosa, another +over the valley to the Dent Blanche and other great peaks, and still +another to the far distant Bernese Oberland. Near the hotel is a little +lake and a tiny chapel, where mass is sometimes said. The reflection in +the still waters of the lake is very lovely. + +From the Schwarzsee, trips are made to the Hrnli (another stage on the +way to the Matterhorn), to the Gandegg Hut, across moraine and glacier +and to the Staffel Alp, over the green meadows. The Hrnli (9,490 feet +high) is the ridge running out from the Matterhorn. It is reached by a +stiff climb over rocks and a huge heap of fallen stones and debris. From +it the view is similar to that from the Schwarzsee, but much finer, the +Thodule Glacier being seen to great advantage. Above the Hrnli towers +the Matterhorn, huge, fierce, frowning, threatening. Every few moments +comes a heavy, muffled sound, as new showers of falling stones come +down. This is one of the main dangers in climbing the peak itself, for +from base to summit, the Matterhorn is really a decaying mountain, the +stones rolling away through the action of the storms, the frosts, and +the sun. + + +PONTRSINA AND ST. MORITZ[40] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +The night was falling fine as dust, as a black sifted snow-shower, a +snow made of shadow; and the melancholy of the landscape, the grand +nocturnal solitude of these lofty, unknown regions, had a charm profound +and disquieting. I do not know why I fancied myself no longer in +Switzerland, but in some country near the pole, in Sweden or Norway. At +the foot of these bare mountains I looked for wild fjords, lit up by the +moon. + +Nothing can express the profound somberness of these landscapes at +nightfall; the long desert road, gray from the reflections of the starry +sky, unrolls in an interminable ribbon along the depth of the valley; +the treeless mountains, hollowed out like ancient craters, lift their +overhanging precipices; lakes sleeping in the midst of the pastures, +behind curtains of pines and larches, glitter like drops of quicksilver; +and on the horizon the immense glaciers crowd together and overflow like +sheets of foam on a frozen sea. + +The road ascends. From the distance comes a dull noise, the roaring of a +torrent. We cross a little cluster of trees, and on issuing from it the +superb amphitheater of glaciers shows itself anew, overlooked by one +white point glittering like an opal. On the hill a thousand little +lights show me that I am at last at Pontrsina. I thought I should +never have arrived there; nowhere does night deceive more than in the +mountains; in proportion as you advance toward a point, it seems to +retreat from you. + +Soon the black fantastic lines of the houses show through the darkness. +I enter a narrow street, formed of great gloomy buildings, their fronts +like a convent or prison. The hamlet is transformed into a little town +of hotels, very comfortable, very elegant, very dear, but very stupid +and very vulgar, with their laced porter in an admiral's hat, and their +whiskered waiters, who have the air of Anglican ministers. Oh! how I +detest them, and flee them, those hotels where the painter, or the +tourist who arrives on foot, knapsack on his back and staff in hand, his +trousers tucked into his leggings, his flask slung over his shoulder, +and his hat awry, is received with less courtesy than a lackey. + +Besides those hotels, some of which are veritable palaces, and where the +ladies are almost bound to change their dress three times a day, there +is a hotel of the second and third class; and there is the old inn; the +comfortable, hospitable, patriarchal inn, with its Gothic signboard.... + +On leaving the village I was again in the open mountain. In the distance +the road penetrated into the valley, rising always. The moon had risen. +She stood out sharply cut in a cloudless sky, and stars sparkling +everywhere in profusion; not like nails of gold, but sown broadcast like +a flying dust, a dust of carbuncles and diamonds. To the right, in the +depths of the amphitheater of the mountains, an immense glacier looked +like a frozen cascade; and above, a perfectly white peak rose draped in +snow, like some legendary king in his mantle of silver. + +Bending under my knapsack, and dragging my feet, I arrive at last at the +hotel, where I am received, in the kindest manner in the world, by the +two mistresses of the establishment, two sisters of open, benevolent +countenance and of sweet expression. + +And the poor little traveler who arrives, his bag on his back and +without bustle, who has sent neither letter nor telegram to announce his +arrival, is the object of the kindest and most delicate attentions; his +clothes are brushed, he gets water for his refreshment, and is then +conducted to a table bountifully spread, in a dining-room fragrant with +good cookery and bouquets of flowers.... + +Beyond Campfer, its houses surrounding a third little lake, we come +suddenly on a scene of extraordinary animation. All the cosmopolitan +society of St. Moritz is there, sauntering, walking, running, in +mountain parties, on afternoon excursions. The favorite one is the walk +to the pretty lake of Campfer, with its shady margin, its resting places +hidden among the branches, its chlet-restaurant, from the terrace of +which one overlooks the whole valley; and it would be difficult to find +near St. Moritz a more interesting spot. + +We meet at every step parties of English ladies, looking like +plantations of umbrellas with their covers on and surmounted by immense +straw hats; then there are German ladies, massive as citadels, but +not impregnable, asking nothing better than to surrender to the young +exquisites, with the figure of cuirassiers, who accompany them; further +on, lively Italian ladies parade themselves in dresses of the carnival, +the colors outrageously striking and dazzling to the eyes; with +up-turned skirts they cross the Inn on great mossy stones, leaping +with the grace of birds, and smiling, to show, into the bargain, the +whiteness of their teeth. All this crowd passing in procession before us +is composed of men and women of every age and condition; some with the +grave face of a waxen saint, others beaming with the satisfied smile of +rich people; there are also invalids, who go along hobbling and limping, +or who are drawn, in little carriages. + +Soon handsome faades, pierced with hundreds of windows, show themselves +in the grand and severe setting of mountains and glaciers. It is St. +Moritz-les-Bains. Here every house is a hotel, and, as every hotel is +a little palace, we do not alight from the diligence; we go a little +farther and a little higher, to St. Moritz-le-Village, which has a much +more beautiful situation. It is at the top of a little hill, whose sides +slope down to a pretty lake, fresh and green as a lawn. The eye reaches +beyond Sils, the whole length of the valley, with its mountains like +embattled ramparts, its lakes like a great row of pearls, and its +glaciers showing their piles of snowy white against the azure depths of +the horizon. + +St. Moritz is the center of the valley of the Upper Engadine, which +extends to the length of eighteen or nineteen leagues, and which +scarcely possesses a thousand inhabitants. Almost all the men emigrate +to work for strangers, like their brothers, the mountaineers of Savoy +and Auvergne, and do not return till they have amassed a sufficient +fortune to allow them to build a little white house, with gilded +window frames, and to die quietly in the spot where they were born.... +Historians tell us that the first inhabitants of the Upper Engadine were +Etruscans and Latins chased from Italy by the Gauls and Carthaginians, +and taking refuge in these hidden altitudes. After the fall of the +Empire, the inhabitants of the Engadine fell under the dominion of the +Franks and Lombards, then the Dukes of Swabia; but the blood never +mingled--the type remained Italian; black hair, the quick eye, the +mobile countenance, the expressive features, and the supple figure. + + +GENEVA[41] + +BY FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE + +Straddling the Rhone, where it issues from the bluest lake in the world, +looking out upon green meadows and wooded hills, backed by the dark +ridge of the Salve, with the "great white mountain" visible in the +distance, Geneva has the advantage of an incomparable site; and it +is, from a town surveyor's point of view, well built. It has wide +thoroughfares, quays, and bridges; gorgeous public monuments and +well-kept public gardens; handsome theaters and museums; long rows +of palatial hotels; flourishing suburbs; two railway-stations, and a +casino. But all this is merely the faade--all of it quite modern; +hardly any of it more than half a century old. The real historical +Geneva--the little of it that remains--is hidden away in the background, +where not every tourist troubles to look for it. It is disappearing +fast. Italian stonemasons are constantly engaged in driving lines +through it. They have rebuilt, for instance, the old Corraterie, which +is now the Regent Street of Geneva, famous for its confectioners' and +booksellers' shops; they have destroyed, and are still destroying, other +ancient slums, setting up white buildings of uniform ugliness in place +of the picturesque but insanitary dwellings of the past. It is, no +doubt, a very necessary reform, tho' one may think that it is being +executed in too utilitarian a spirit. The old Geneva was malodorous, and +its death-rate was high. They had more than one Great Plague there, and +their Great Fires have always left some of the worst of their slums +untouched. These could not be allowed to stand in an age which studies +the science and practises the art of hygiene. Yet the traveler who wants +to know what the old Geneva was really like must spend a morning or two +rambling among them before they are pulled down. + +The old Geneva, like Jerusalem, was set upon a hill, and it is toward +the top of the hill that the few buildings of historical interest are to +be found. There is the cathedral--a striking object from a distance, tho' +the interior is hideously bare. There is the Town Hall, in which, for +the convenience of notables carried in litters, the upper stories were +reached by an inclined plane instead of a staircase. There is Calvin's +old Academy, bearing more than a slight resemblance to certain of the +smaller colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. There, too, are to be seen a +few mural tablets, indicating the residences of past celebrities. In +such a house Rousseau was born; in such another house or in an older +house, now demolished, on the same site--Calvin died. And toward these +central points the steep and narrow, mean streets--in many cases streets +of stairs--converge. + +As one plunges into these streets one seems to pass back from the +twentieth century to the fifteenth, and need not exercise one's +imagination very severely in order to picture the town as it appeared +in the old days before the Reformation. The present writer may claim +permission to borrow his own description from the pages of "Lake Geneva +and its Literary Landmarks:" + +"Narrow streets predominated, tho' there were also a certain number of +open spaces--notably at the markets, and in front of the Cathedral, +where there was a traffic in those relics and rosaries which Geneva was +presently to repudiate with virtuous indignation. One can form an idea +of the appearance of the narrow streets by imagining the oldest houses +that one has seen in Switzerland all closely packed together--houses at +the most three stories high, with gabled roofs, ground-floors a step or +two below the level of the roadway, and huge arched doors studded with +great iron nails, and looking strong enough to resist a battering-ram. +Above the doors, in the case of the better houses, were the painted +escutcheons of the residents, and crests were also often blazoned on the +window-panes. The shops, too, and more especially the inns, flaunted +gaudy signboards with ingenious devices. The Good Vinegar, the Hot +Knife, the Crowned Ox, were the names of some of these; their tariff is +said to have been fivepence a day for man and beast.".... + +In the first half of the sixteenth century occurred the two events +which shaped the future of Geneva; Reformation theology was accepted; +political independence was achieved. Geneva it should be explained, was +the fief of the duchy of Savoy; or so, at all events, the Dukes of Savoy +maintained, tho' the citizens were of the contrary opinion. Their view +was that they owed allegiance only to their Bishops, who were the +Viceroys of the Holy Roman Emperor; and even that allegiance was limited +by the terms of a Charter granted in the Holy Roman Emperor's name by +Bishop Adhmar de Fabri. All went fairly well until the Bishops began +to play into the hands of the Dukes; but then there was friction, +which rapidly became acute. A revolutionary party--the Eidgenossen, or +Confederates--was formed. There was a Declaration of Independence and a +civil war. + +So long as the Genevans stood alone, the Duke was too strong for them. +He marched into the town in the style of a conqueror, and wreaked his +vengeance on as many of his enemies as he could catch. He cut off the +head of Philibert Berthelier, to whom there stands a memorial on the +island in the Rhone; he caused Jean Pecolat to be hung up in an absurd +posture in his banqueting-hall, in order that he might mock at his +discomfort while he dined; he executed, with or without preliminary +torture, several less conspicuous patriots. Happily, however, some of +the patriots--notably Besanon Hugues--got safely away, and succeeded in +concluding treaties of alliance between Geneva and the cantons of Berne +and Fribourg. + +The men of Fribourg marched to Geneva, and the Duke retired. The +citizens passed a resolution that he should never be allowed to enter +the town again, seeing that he "never came there without playing the +citizens some dirty trick or other;" and, the more effectually to +prevent him from coming, they pulled down their suburbs and repaired +their ramparts, one member of every household being required to lend a +hand for the purpose. + +Presently, owing to religious dissensions, Fribourg withdrew from the +alliance. Berne, however, adhered to it, and, in due course, responded +to the appeal for help by setting an army of seven thousand men in +motion. The route of the seven thousand lay through the canton of Vaud, +then a portion of the Duke's dominions, governed from the Castle of +Chillon. Meeting with no resistance save at Yverdon, they annexed the +territory, placing governors of their own in its various strongholds. +The Governor of Chillon fled, leaving his garrison to surrender; and in +its deepest dungeon was found the famous prisoner of Chillon, Franois +de Bonivard. From that time forward Geneva was a free republic, owing +allegiance to no higher power. + + +THE CASTLE OF CHILLON[42] + +BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE + +Here I am, sitting at my window, overlooking Lake Leman. Castle Chillon, +with its old conical towers, is silently pictured in the still waters. +It has been a day of a thousand. We took a boat, with two oarsmen, and +passed leisurely along the shores, under the cool, drooping branches of +trees, to the castle, which is scarce a stone's throw from the hotel. We +rowed along, close under the walls, to the ancient moat and drawbridge. +There I picked a bunch of blue bells, "les clochettes," which were +hanging their aerial pendants from every crevice--some blue, some +white.... + +We rowed along, almost touching the castle rock, where the wall ascends +perpendicularly, and the water is said to be a thousand feet deep. We +passed the loopholes that illuminate the dungeon vaults, and an old +arch, now walled up, where prisoners, after having been strangled, were +thrown into the lake. + +Last evening we walked through the castle. An interesting Swiss woman, +who has taught herself English for the benefit of her visitors, was our +"cicerone." She seemed to have all the old Swiss vivacity of attachment +for "libert et patrie." She took us first into the dungeon, with the +seven pillars, described by Byron. There was the pillar to which, for +protecting the liberty of Geneva, Bonivard was chained. There the Duke +of Savoy kept him for six years, confined by a chain four feet long. He +could take only three steps, and the stone floor is deeply worn by the +prints of those weary steps. Six years is so easily said; but to live +them, alone, helpless, a man burning with all the fires of manhood, +chained to that pillar of stone, and those three unvarying steps! Two +thousand one hundred and ninety days rose and set the sun, while seed +time and harvest, winter and summer, and the whole living world went +on over his grave. For him no sun, no moon, no stars, no business, no +friendship, no plans--nothing! The great millstone of life emptily +grinding itself away! + +What a power of vitality was there in Bonivard, that he did not sink in +lethargy, and forget himself to stone! But he did not; it is said that +when the victorious Swiss army broke in to liberate him, they cried, + +"Bonivard, you are free!" + +"And Geneva?" + +"Geneva is free also!" + +You ought to have heard the enthusiasm with which our guide told this +story! + +Near by are the relics of the cell of a companion of Bonivard, who made +an ineffectual attempt to liberate him. On the wall are still seen +sketches of saints and inscriptions by his hand. This man one day +overcame his jailer, locked him in his cell, ran into the hall above, +and threw himself from a window into the lake, struck a rock, and was +killed instantly. One of the pillars in this vault is covered with +names. I think it is Bonivard's pillar. There are the names of Byron, +Hunt, Schiller, and many other celebrities. + +After we left the dungeons we went up into the judgment hall, where +prisoners were tried, and then into the torture chamber. Here are the +pulleys by which limbs are broken; the beam, all scorched with the irons +by which feet were burned; the oven where the irons were heated; and +there was the stone where they were sometimes laid to be strangled, +after the torture. On that stone, our guide told us, two thousand Jews, +men, women, and children, had been put to death. There was also, high +up, a strong beam across, where criminals were hung; and a door, now +walled up, by which they were thrown into the lake. I shivered. +"'Twas cruel," she said; "'twas almost as cruel as your slavery in +America."[43] + +Then she took us into a tower where was the "oubliette." Here the +unfortunate prisoner was made to kneel before an image of the Virgin, +while the treacherous floor, falling beneath him, precipitated him into +a well forty feet deep, where he was left to die of broken limbs and +starvation. Below this well was still another pit, filled with knives, +into which, when they were disposed to a merciful hastening of the +torture, they let him fall. The woman has been herself to the bottom of +the first dungeon, and found there bones of victims. The second pit is +now walled up.... + +To-night, after sunset, we rowed to Byron's "little isle," the only one +in the lake. O, the unutterable beauty of these mountains--great, purple +waves, as if they had been dashed up by a mighty tempest, crested +with snow-like foam! this purple sky, and crescent moon, and the lake +gleaming and shimmering, and twinkling stars, while far off up the sides +of a snow-topped mountain a light shines like a star--some mountaineer's +candle, I suppose. + +In the dark stillness we rode again over to Chillon, and paused under +its walls. The frogs were croaking in the moat, and we lay rocking on +the wave, and watching the dusky outlines of the towers and turrets. +Then the spirit of the scene seemed to wrap me round like a cloak. Back +to Geneva again. This lovely place will ever leave its image on my +heart. Mountains embrace it. + + +BY RAIL UP THE GORNER-GRAT[44] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +To see the splendid array of snow peaks and glaciers which makes the sky +line above Zermatt, one must leave the valley and walk or climb to a +higher level. An ideal spot for this is the Htel Riffel Alp. Both the +situation and the Htel outrival and surpass any similar places in the +Alps. "Far from the madding crowd," on a little plateau bounded by pines +and pastures stands the Htel, some two thousand feet above Zermatt +and at an altitude of over 7,000 feet. The outlook is superb, the air +splendid, the quiet most restful. Two little churches, the one for Roman +Catholics, the other for members of the Church of England minister to +the spiritual needs of the visitors and stamp religion upon a situation +grand and sublime. + +Those who come here are lovers of the mountains who enjoy the open life. +It is a place not so much for "les grands excursions" as for long walks, +easy climbs and the beginnings of mountaineering. Many persons spend the +entire day out, preferring to eat their djeuner "informally," perched +above some safe precipice, or on a glacier-bordered rock or in the shade +of the cool woods, but there are always some who linger both morning and +afternoon on the terrace with its far expanse of view, with the bright +sunshine streaming down upon them. + +One great charm of the Riffel Alp is the proximity to the snow. An hour +will bring one either to the Gorner Glacier or to the Findelen Glacier, +while a somewhat longer time will lead to other stretches of snow and +ice, where the climber may sit and survey the sracs and crevasses or +walk about on the great frozen rivers. This is said to be beneficial to +the nervous system as many physicians maintain that the glaciers contain +a large amount of radium. + +Before essaying any of the longer or harder trips however, the traveler +first of all generally goes to the Gorner-Grat, the rocky ridge that +runs up from Zermatt to a point 10,290 feet high. Many people still walk +up, but since the railroad was built, even those who feel it to be a +matter of conscience to inveigh against any kind of progress which +ministers to the pleasures of the masses, are found among those who +prefer to ascend by electricity. The trip up is often made very amusing +as among the crowds are always some, who knowing really nothing of the +place, feel it incumbent upon themselves to point out all of the peaks, +in a way quite discomposing to anybody familiar with the locality or +versed in geography! Quite a luxurious little htel now surmounts the +top of the Gorner-Grat. In it, about it and above it, on the walled +terrace assembles a motley crowd every clear day in summer, clad in +every variety of costume, conventional and unconventional.... + +An ordinary scene would be ruined by such a crowd, but not so the +Gorner-Grat. The very majesty and magnificence of the view make +one forget the vaporings of mere man, and the Glory of God, so +overpoweringly revealed in those regions of perpetual snow, drives other +impressions away. And if one wishes to be alone, it is easily possible +by walking a little further along the ridge where some rock will shut +out all sight of man and the wind will drive away the sound of voices. + +It is doubtful if there is any view comparable with that of the +Gorner-Grat. There is what is called a "near view," and there is also +what is known as a "distant view," for completely surrounded by snow +peak and glacier, the eye passes from valley to summit, resting on that +wonderful stretch of shining white which forms the skyline. To say that +one can count dozens of glaciers, that he can see fifty summits, that +Monte Rosa, the Lyskamm, the Twins, the Breithorn, the Matterhorn, the +Dent Blanche, the Weisshorn, with many other mountains of the Valais +and Oberland form a complete circle of snow peaks, may establish the +geography of the place but it does not convey any but the faintest +picture of the sublime grandeur of the scene.... + +An exciting experience for novices is to go with a guide from the +Gorner-Grat to the Hohtligrat and thence down to the Findelen Glacier. +It looks dangerous but it is not really so, if the climber is careful, +for altho there is a sheer descent on either side of the arte or ridge +which leads from the one point to the other, the way is never narrow and +only over easy rocks and snow. + +The Hohtligrat is almost 11,000 feet in altitude and has a splendid +survey of the sky line. One looks up at snow, one looks down at snow, +one looks around at snow! From the beautiful summits of Monte Rosa, the +eye passes in a complete circle, up and down, seeing in succession the +white snow peaks, with their great glistening glaciers below, showing in +strong contrast the occasional rock pyramids like the Matterhorn and the +group around the Rothhorn. + + +THROUGH THE ST. GOTHARD INTO ITALY[45] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +This is Geschenen, at the entrance of the great tunnel, the meeting +place of the upper gorges of the Reuss, the valley of Urseren, of the +Oberalp, and of the Furka. Geschenen has now the calm tranquility of old +age. But during the nine years that it took to bore the great tunnel, +what juvenile activity there was here, what feverish eagerness in this +village, crowded, inundated, overflowed by workmen from Italy, from +Tessin, from Germany and France! One would have thought that out of that +dark hole, dug out in the mountain, they were bringing nuggets of gold. + +On all the roads nothing was to be seen but bands of workmen arriving, +with miners' lamps hung to their old soldier's knapsacks. Nobody could +tell how they were all to be lodged. One double bed was occupied in +succession by twenty-four men in twenty-four hours. Some of the workmen +set up their establishments in barns; in all directions movable canteens +sprung up, built all awry and hardly holding together, and in mean +sheds, doubtful, bad-looking places, the dishonest merchant hastened to +sell his adulterated brandy.... + +The St. Gothard tunnel is about one and two-third miles longer than that +of Mount Cenis, and more than three miles longer than that of Arlberg. +While the train is passing with a dull rumbling sound under these +gloomy vaults, let us explain how the great work of boring the Alps was +accomplished. + +The mechanical work of perforation was begun simultaneously on the north +and south sides of the mountain, working toward the same point, so as to +meet toward the middle of the boring. The waters of the Reuss and the +Tessin supplied the necessary motive power for working the screws +attached to machinery for compressing the air. The borers applied to the +rock the piston of a cylinder made to rotate with great rapidity by the +pressure of air reduced to one-twentieth of its ordinary volume; then +when they had made holes sufficiently deep, they withdrew the machines +and charged the mines with dynamite. Immediately after the explosion, +streams of wholesome air were liberated which dissipated the smoke; then +the dbris was cleared away, and the borers returned to their place. The +same work was thus carried on day and night, for nine years. + +On the Geschenen side all went well; but on the other side, on the +Italian slope, unforseen obstacles and difficulties had to be overcome. +Instead of having to encounter the solid rock, they found themselves +among a moving soil formed by the deposit of glaciers and broken by +streams of water. Springs burst out, like the jet of a fountain, under +the stroke of the pick, flooding and driving away the workmen. For +twelve months they seemed to be in the midst of a lake. But nothing +could damp the ardor of the contractor, Favre. + +His troubles were greater still when the undertaking had almost been +suspended for want of money, when the workmen struck in 1875, and, when, +two years later, the village of Arola was destroyed by fire. And how +many times, again and again, the mason-work of the vaulted roof gave way +and fell! Certain "bad places," as they were called, cost more than nine +hundred pounds per yard. + +In the interior of the mountain the thermometer marked 86 degrees +(Fahr.), but so long as the tunnel was still not completely bored, the +workmen were sustained by a kind of fever, and made redoubled efforts. +Discouragement and desertion did not appear among them till the goal was +almost reached. + +The great tunnel passed, we find ourselves fairly in Italy. The mulberry +trees, with silky white bark and delicate, transparent leaves; the +chestnuts, with enormous trunks like cathedral columns; the vine, +hanging to high trellises supported by granite pillars, its festoons as +capricious as the feats of those who partake too freely of its fruits; +the white tufty heads of the maize tossing in the breeze; all that +strong and luxuriant vegetation through which waves of moist air are +passing; those flowers of rare beauty, of a grace and brilliancy that +belong only to privileged zones;--all this indicates a more robust and +fertile soil, and a more fervid sky than those of the upper villages +which we have just left. + + + +X + +ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING + +FIRST ATTEMPTS HALF A CENTURY AGO[46] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +On the 23d of July, 1860, I started for my first tour of the Alps. At +Zermatt I wandered in many directions, but the weather was bad and my +work was much retarded. One day, after spending a long time in attempts +to sketch near the Hrnli, and in futile endeavors to seize the forms +of the peaks as they for a few seconds peered out from above the dense +banks of woolly clouds, I determined not to return to Zermatt by the +usual path, but to cross the Grner glacier to the Riffel hotel. After +a rapid scramble over the polished rocks and snow-beds which skirt the +base of the Theodule glacier, and wading through some of the streams +which flow from it, at that time much swollen by the late rains, the +first difficulty was arrived at, in the shape of a precipice about +three hundred feet high. It seemed that there would be no difficulty in +crossing the glacier if the cliff could be descended, but higher up and +lower down the ice appeared, to my inexperienced eyes, to be impassable +for a single person. + +The general contour of the cliff was nearly perpendicular, but it was a +good deal broken up, and there was little difficulty in descending by +zigzagging from one mass to another. At length there was a long slab, +nearly smooth, fixt at an angle of about forty degrees between two +wall-sided pieces of rock; nothing, except the glacier, could be seen +below. It was a very awkward place, but being doubtful if return were +possible, as I had been dropping from one ledge to another, I passed at +length by lying across the slab, putting the shoulder stiffly against +one side and the feet against the other, and gradually wriggling down, +by first moving the legs and then the back. When the bottom of the slab +was gained a friendly crack was seen, into which the point of the bton +could be stuck, and I dropt down to the next piece. + +It took a long time coming down that little bit of cliff, and for a few +seconds it was satisfactory to see the ice close at hand. In another +moment a second difficulty presented itself. The glacier swept round an +angle of the cliff, and as the ice was not of the nature of treacle or +thin putty, it kept away from the little bay on the edge of which I +stood. We were not widely separated, but the edge of the ice was higher +than the opposite edge of rock; and worse, the rock was covered with +loose earth and stones which had fallen from above. All along the side +of the cliff, as far as could be seen in both directions, the ice did +not touch it, but there was this marginal crevasse seven feet wide and +of unknown depth. All this was seen at a glance, and almost at once I +concluded that I could not jump the crevass and began to try along the +cliff lower down, but without success, for the ice rose higher and +higher until at last farther progress was stopt by the cliffs becoming +perfectly smooth. With an ax it would have been possible to cut up the +side of the ice--without one, I saw there was no alternative but to +return and face the jump. + +It was getting toward evening, and the solemn stillness of the High Alps +was broken only by the sound of rushing water or of falling rocks. If +the jump should be successful, well; if not, I fell into the horrible +chasm, to be frozen in, or drowned in that gurgling, rushing water. +Everything depended on that jump. Again I asked myself "Can it be +done?" It must be. So, finding my stick was useless, I threw it and the +sketch-book to the ice, and first retreating as far as possible, ran +forward with all my might, took the leap, barely reached the other side, +and fell awkwardly on my knees. At the same moment a shower of stones +fell on the spot from which I had jumped. + +The glacier was crossed without further trouble, but the Riffel, which +was then a very small building, was crammed with tourists, and could +not take me in. As the way down was unknown to me, some of the people +obligingly suggested getting a man at the chalets, otherwise the path +would be certainly lost in the forest. On arriving at the chalets no man +could be found, and the lights of Zermatt, shining through the trees, +seemed to say, "Never mind a guide, but come along down; we'll show you +the way"; so off I went through the forest, going straight toward them. +The path was lost in a moment, and was never recovered. I was tript up +by pine roots, I tumbled over rhododendron bushes, I fell over rocks. +The night was pitch-dark, and after a time the lights of Zermatt became +obscure or went out altogether. By a series of slides or falls, or +evolutions more or less disagreeable, the descent through the forest was +at length accomplished, but torrents of a formidable character had still +to be passed before one could arrive at Zermatt. I felt my way about for +hours, almost hopelessly, by an exhaustive process at last discovering a +bridge, and about midnight, covered with dirt and scratches, reentered +the inn which I had quitted in the morning.... + +I descended the valley, diverging from the path at Randa to mount the +slopes of the Dom (the highest of the Mischabelhrner), in order to +see the Weisshorn face to face. The latter mountain is the noblest in +Switzerland, and from this direction it looks especially magnificent. On +its north there is a large snowy plateau that feeds the glacier of which +a portion is seen from Randa, and which on more than one occasion +has destroyed that village. From the direction of the Dom--that is, +immediately opposite--this Bies glacier seems to descend nearly +vertically; it does not do so, altho it is very steep. Its size is much +less than formerly and the lower portion, now divided into three tails, +clings in a strange, weird-like manner to the cliffs, to which it seems +scarcely possible that it can remain attached. + +Unwillingly I parted from the sight of this glorious mountain, and went +down to Visp. Arriving once more in the Rhone valley, I proceeded to +Viesch, and from thence ascended the Aeggischhorn, on which unpleasant +eminence I lost my way in a fog, and my temper shortly afterward. Then, +after crossing the Grimsel in a severe thunderstorm, I passed on to +Brienz, Interlachen and Berne, and thence to Fribourg and Morat, +Neuchtel, Martigny and the St. Bernard. The massive walls of the +convent were a welcome sight as I waded through the snow-beds near the +summit of the pass, and pleasant also was the courteous salutation of +the brother who bade me enter. + +Instead of descending to Aosta, I turned into the Val Pelline, in order +to obtain views of the Dent d'Erin. The night had come on before Biona +was gained, and I had to knock long and loud upon the door of the cur's +house before it was opened. An old woman with querulous voice and with a +large gotre answered the summons, and demanded rather sharply what was +wanted, but became pacific, almost good-natured, when a five-franc piece +was held in her face and she heard that lodging and supper were required +in exchange. + +My directions asserted that a passage existed from Prerayen, at the head +of this valley, to Breuil, in the Val Tournanche, and the old woman, +now convinced of my respectability, busied herself to find a guide. +Presently she introduced a native picturesquely attired in high-peaked +hat, braided jacket, scarlet waistcoat and indigo pantaloons, who agreed +to take me to the village of Val Tournanche. We set off early on the +next morning, and got to the summit of the pass without difficulty. It +gave me my first experience of considerable slopes of hard, steep snow, +and, like all beginners, I endeavored to prop myself up with my stick, +and kept it outside, instead of holding it between myself and the slope, +and leaning upon it, as should have been done. + +The man enlightened me, but he had, properly, a very small opinion of +his employer, and it is probably on that account that, a few minutes +after we had passed the summit, he said he would not go any farther and +would return to Biona. All argument was useless; he stood still, and to +everything that was said answered nothing but that he would go back. +Being rather nervous about descending some long snow-slopes which still +intervened between us and the head of the valley, I offered more pay, +and he went on a little way. Presently there were some cliffs, down +which we had to scramble. He called to me to stop, then shouted that he +would go back, and beckoned to me to come up. + +On the contrary, I waited for him to come down, but instead of doing so, +in a second or two he turned round, clambered deliberately up the cliff +and vanished. I supposed it was only a ruse to extort offers of more +money, and waited for half an hour, but he did not appear again. This +was rather embarrassing, for he carried off my knapsack. The choice of +action lay between chasing him and going on to Breuil, risking the loss +of my knapsack. I chose the latter course, and got to Breuil the same +evening. The landlord of the inn, suspicious of a person entirely +innocent of luggage, was doubtful if he could admit me, and eventually +thrust me into a kind of loft, which was already occupied by guides and +by hay. In later years we became good friends, and he did not hesitate +to give credit and even to advance considerable sums. + +My sketches from Breuil were made under difficulties; my materials +had been carried off, nothing better than fine sugar-paper could be +obtained, and the pencils seemed to contain more silica than plumbago. +However, they were made, and the pass was again crossed, this time +alone. By the following evening the old woman of Biona again produced +the faithless guide. The knapsack was recovered after the lapse of +several hours, and then I poured forth all the terms of abuse and +reproach of which I was master. The man smiled when I called him a liar, +and shrugged his shoulders when referred to as a thief, but drew his +knife when spoken of as a pig. + +The following night was spent at Cormayeur, and the day after I crossed +the Col Ferrex to Orsires, and on the next the Tte Noir to Chamounix. +The Emperor Napoleon arrived the same day, and access to the Mer de +Glace was refused to tourists; but, by scrambling along the Plan +des Aiguilles, I managed to outwit the guards, and to arrive at the +Montanvert as the imperial party was leaving, failing to get to the +Jardin the same afternoon, but very nearly succeeding in breaking a leg +by dislodging great rocks on the moraine of the glacier. + +From Chamounix I went to Geneva, and thence by the Mont Cenis to Turin +and to the Vaudois valleys. A long and weary day had ended when Paesana +was reached. The next morning I passed the little lakes which are the +sources of the Po, on my way into France. The weather was stormy, and +misinterpreting the dialect of some natives--who in reality pointed out +the right way--I missed the track, and found myself under the cliffs of +Monte Viso. A gap that was occasionally seen in the ridge connecting it +with the mountains to the east tempted me up, and after a battle with a +snow-slope of excessive steepness, I reached the summit. The scene was +extraordinary, and, in my experience, unique. To the north there was not +a particle of mist, and the violent wind coming from that direction +blew one back staggering. But on the side of Italy the valleys were +completely filled with dense masses of cloud to a certain level; and +here--where they felt the influence of the wind--they were cut off as +level as the top of a table, the ridges appearing above them. + +I raced down to Abries, and went on through the gorge of the Guil to +Mont Dauphin. The next day found me at La Besse, at the junction of the +Val Louise with the valley of the Durance, in full view of Mont Pelvoux. +The same night I slept at Brianon, intending to take the courier on the +following day to Grenoble, but all places had been secured several days +beforehand, so I set out at two P.M. on the next day for a seventy-mile +walk. The weather was again bad, and on the summit of the Col de +Lautaret I was forced to seek shelter in the wretched little hospice. It +was filled with workmen who were employed on the road, and with noxious +vapors which proceeded from them. The inclemency of the weather was +preferable to the inhospitality of the interior. + +Outside, it was disagreeable, but grand--inside, it was disagreeable and +mean. The walk was continued under a deluge of rain, and I felt the way +down, so intense was the darkness, to the village of La Grave, where the +people of the inn detained me forcibly. It was perhaps fortunate that +they did so, for during that night blocks of rock fell at several places +from the cliffs on to the road with such force that they made large +holes in the macadam, which looked as if there had been explosions +of gunpowder. I resumed the walk at half-past five next morning, and +proceeded, under steady rain, through Bourg d'Oysans to Grenoble, +arriving at the latter place soon after seven P.M., having accomplished +the entire distance from Brianon in about eighteen hours of actual +walking. + +This was the end of the Alpine portion of my tour of 1860, on which +I was introduced to the great peaks, and acquired the passion for +mountain-scrambling. + + +FIRST TO THE TOP OF THE MATTERHORN[47] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +We started from Zermatt on the 13th of July at half-past five, on +a brilliant and perfectly cloudless morning. We were eight in +number--Croz, old Peter and his two sons, Lord Francis Douglas, Hadow, +Hudson and I. To ensure steady motion, one tourist and one native walked +together. The youngest Taugwalder fell to my share, and the lad marched +well, proud to be on the expedition and happy to show his powers. The +wine-bags also fell to my lot to carry, and throughout the day, after +each drink, I replenished them secretly with water, so that at the next +halt they were found fuller than before! This was considered a good +omen, and little short of miraculous. + +On the first day we did not intend to ascend to any great height, and we +mounted, accordingly, very leisurely, picked up the things which were +left in the chapel at the Schwarzsee at 8:20, and proceeded thence along +the ridge connecting the Hrnli with the Matterhorn. At half-past eleven +we arrived at the base of the actual peak, then quitted the ridge and +clambered round some ledges on to the eastern face. We were now fairly +upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which +from the Riffel, or even from the Furggengletscher, looked entirely +impracticable, were so easy that we could run about. + +Before twelve o'clock we had found a good position for the tent, at a +height of eleven thousand feet. Croz and young Peter went on to see what +was above, in order to save time on the following morning. They +cut across the heads of the snow-slopes which descended toward the +Furggengletscher, and disappeared round a corner, but shortly afterward +we saw them high up on the face, moving quickly. We others made a solid +platform for the tent in a well-protected spot, and then watched eagerly +for the return of the men. The stones which they upset told that they +were very high, and we supposed that the way must be easy. At length, +just before 3 P.M., we saw them coming down, evidently much excited. +"What are they saying, Peter?" "Gentlemen, they say it is no good." But +when they came near we heard a different story: "Nothing but what was +good--not a difficulty, not a single difficulty! We could have gone to +the summit and returned to-day easily!" + +We passed the remaining hours of daylight--some basking in the sunshine, +some sketching or collecting--and when the sun went down, giving, as it +departed, a glorious promise for the morrow, we returned to the tent to +arrange for the night. Hudson made tea, I coffee, and we then retired +each one to his blanket-bag, the Taugwalders, Lord Francis Douglas and +myself occupying the tent, the others remaining, by preference, outside. +Long after dusk the cliffs above echoed with our laughter and with the +songs of the guides, for we were happy that night in camp, and feared no +evil. + +We assembled together outside the tent before dawn on the morning of the +14th, and started directly it was light enough to move. Young Peter came +on with us as a guide, and his brother returned to Zermatt. We followed +the route which had been taken on the previous day, and in a few minutes +turned the rib which had intercepted the view of the eastern face from +our tent platform. The whole of this great slope was now revealed, +rising for three thousand feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts +were more and others were less easy, but we were not once brought to a +halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front +it could always be turned to the right or to the left. + +For the greater part of the way there was indeed no occasion for the +rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6:20 we had +attained a height of twelve thousand eight hundred feet, and halted for +half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9:55, +when we stopt for fifty minutes at a height of fourteen thousand feet. +Twice we struck the northeastern ridge, and followed it for some little +distance--to no advantage, for it was usually more rotten and steep, and +always more difficult, than the face. Still, we kept near to it, lest +stones perchance might fall. + +We had now arrived at the foot of that part which, from the Riffelberg +or from Zermatt, seems perpendicular or overhanging, and could no longer +continue upon the eastern side. For a little distance we ascended by +snow upon the arte--that is, the ridge--descending toward Zermatt, and +then by common consent turned over to the right, or to the northern +side. Before doing so we made a change in the order of ascent. Croz went +first, I followed, Hudson came third; Hadow and old Peter were +last. "Now," said Croz as he led off--"now for something altogether +different." The work became difficult, and required caution. In some +places there was little to hold, and it was desirable that those should +be in front who were least likely to slip. The general slope of the +mountain at this part was less than forty degrees, and snow had +accumulated in, and had filled up, the interstices of the rock-face, +leaving only occasional fragments projecting here and there. These were +at times covered with a thin film of ice, produced from the melting and +refreezing of the snow. + +It was the counterpart, on a small scale, of the upper seven +hundred feet of the Pointe des crins; only there was this material +difference--the face of the crins was about, or exceeded, an angle of +fifty degrees, and the Matterhorn face was less than forty degrees. It +was a place over which any fair mountaineers might pass in safety, +and Mr. Hudson ascended this part, and, as far as I know, the entire +mountain, without having the slightest assistance rendered to him upon +any occasion. Sometimes, after I had taken a hand from Croz or received +a pull, I turned to offer the same to Hudson, but he invariably +declined, saying it was not necessary. Mr. Hadow, however, was not +accustomed to this kind of work, and required continual assistance. It +is only fair to say that the difficulty which he found at this part +arose simply and entirely from want of experience. + +This solitary difficult part was of no great extent. We bore away over +it at first nearly horizontally, for a distance of about four hundred +feet, then ascended directly toward the summit for about sixty feet, and +then doubled back to the ridge which descends toward Zermatt. A long +stride round a rather awkward corner brought us to snow once more. The +last doubt vanished! The Matterhorn was ours! Nothing but two hundred +feet of easy snow remained to be surmounted!.... + +The summit of the Matterhorn was formed of a rudely level ridge, +about three hundred and fifty feet long. The day was one of those +superlatively calm and clear ones which usually precede bad weather. The +atmosphere was perfectly still and free from clouds or vapors. Mountains +fifty--nay, a hundred--miles off looked sharp and near. All their +details--ridge and crag, snow and glacier--stood out with faultless +definition. Pleasant thoughts of happy days in bygone years came +up unbidden as we recognized the old, familiar forms. All were +revealed--not one of the principal peaks of the Alps was hidden. I see +them clearly now--the great inner circles of giants, backed by the +ranges, chains and "massifs." First came the Dent Blanche, hoary and +grand; the Gabelhorn and pointed Rothborn, and then the peerless +Weisshorn; the towering Mischabelhrner flanked by the Allaleinhorn, +Strahlhorn and Rimpfischhorn; then Monte Rosa--with its many +Spitzen--the Lyskamm and the Breithorn. Behind were the Bernese +Oberland, governed by the Finsteraarhorn, the Simplon and St. Gothard +groups, the Disgrazia and the Orteler. Toward the south we looked down +to Chivasso on the plain of Piedmont, and far beyond. The Viso--one +hundred miles away--seemed close upon us; the Maritime Alps--one hundred +and thirty miles distant--were free from haze. + +Then came into view my first love--the Pelvoux; the crins and the +Meije; the clusters of the Graians; and lastly, in the west, gorgeous +in the full sunlight, rose the monarch of all--Mont Blanc. Ten thousand +feet beneath us were the green fields of Zermatt, dotted with chalets, +from which blue smoke rose lazily. Eight thousand feet below, on the +other side, were the pastures of Breuil. There were forests black and +gloomy, and meadows bright and lively; bounding waterfalls and tranquil +lakes; fertile lands and savage wastes: sunny plains and frigid +plateaux. There were the most rugged forms and the most graceful +outlines--bold, perpendicular cliffs and gentle, undulating slopes; +rocky mountains and snowy mountains, somber and solemn or glittering +and white, with walls, turrets, pinnacles, pyramids, domes, cones and +spires! There was every combination that the world can give, and every +contrast that the heart could desire. We remained on the summit for one +hour-- + + One crowded hour of glorious life. + + +THE LORD FRANCIS DOUGLAS TRAGEDY[48] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +We began to prepare for the descent. Hudson and I again consulted as to +the best and safest arrangement of the party. We agreed that it would +be best for Croz to go first, and Hadow second; Hudson, who was almost +equal to a guide in sureness of foot, wished to be third; Lord Francis +Douglas was placed next, and old Peter, the strongest of the remainder, +after him. I suggested to Hudson that we should attach a rope to the +rocks on our arrival at the difficult bit, and hold it as we descended, +as an additional protection. He approved the idea, but it was not +definitely settled that it should be done. The party was being arranged +in the above order while I was sketching the summit, and they had +finished, and were waiting for me to be tied in line, when some one +remembered that our names had not been left in a bottle. They requested +me to write them down, and moved off while it was being done. + +A few minutes afterward I tied myself to young Peter, ran down after the +others, and caught them just as they were commencing the descent of the +difficult part. Great care was being taken. Only one man was moving at a +time; when he was firmly planted, the next advanced, and so on. They had +not, however, attached the additional rope to rocks, and nothing was +said about it. The suggestion was not made for my own sake, and I am +not sure that it even occurred to me again. For some little distance we +followed the others, detached from them, and should have continued so +had not Lord Francis Douglas asked me, about 3 P.M., to tie on to old +Peter, as he feared, he said, that Taugwalder would not be able to hold +his ground if a slip occurred. + +A few minutes later a sharp-eyed lad ran into the Monte Rosa hotel to +Seiler,[49] saying that he had seen an avalanche fall from the summit of +the Matterhorn on to the Matterhorngletscher. The boy was reproved for +telling such idle stories; he was right, nevertheless, and this was what +he saw. + +Michael Croz had laid aside his ax, and in order to give Mr. Hadow +greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his +feet, one by one, into their proper positions. As far as I know, no one +was actually descending. I can not speak with certainty, because the two +leading men were partially hidden from my sight by an intervening mass +of rock, but it is my belief, from the movements of their shoulders, +that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round +to go down a step or two himself; at the moment Mr. Hadow slipt, fell +against him and knocked him over. + +I heard one startled exclamation from Croz, then saw him and Mr. Hadow +flying downward; in another moment Hudson was dragged from his steps, +and Lord Francis Douglas immediately after him. All this was the work +of a moment. Immediately we heard Croz's exclamation, old Peter and I +planted ourselves as firmly as the rocks would permit; the rope was taut +between us, and the jerk came on us both as one man. We held, but the +rope broke midway between Taugwalder and Lord Francis Douglas. For a +few seconds we saw our unfortunate companions sliding downward on their +backs, and spreading out their hands, endeavoring to save themselves. +They passed from our sight uninjured, disappeared one by one, and fell +from precipice to precipice on to the Matterhorngletscher below, a +distance of nearly four thousand feet in height. From the moment the +rope broke it was impossible to help them. + +So perished our comrades! For the space of half an hour we remained on +the spot without moving a single step. The two men, paralyzed by terror, +cried like infants, and trembled in such a manner as to threaten us with +the fate of the others. Old Peter rent the air with exclamations of +"Chamounix!--oh, what will Chamounix say?" He meant, who would believe +that Croz could fall? The young man did nothing but scream or sob, "We +are lost! we are lost!" Fixt between the two, I could move neither up +nor down. I begged young Peter to descend, but he dared not. Unless he +did, we could not advance. Old Peter became alive to the danger, and +swelled the cry, "We are lost! we are lost!" + +The father's fear was natural--he trembled for his son; the young man's +fear was cowardly--he thought of self alone. At last old Peter summoned +up courage, and changed his position to a rock to which he could fix +the rope; the young man then descended, and we all stood together. +Immediately we did so, I asked for the rope which had given way, and +found, to my surprise--indeed, to my horror--that it was the weakest of +the three ropes. It was not brought, and should not have been employed, +for the purpose for which it was used. It was old rope, and, compared +with the others, was feeble. It was intended as a reserve, in case we +had to leave much rope behind attached to rocks. I saw at once that a +serious question was involved, and made them give me the end. It had +broken in mid-air, and it did not appear to have sustained previous +injury. + +For more than two hours afterward I thought almost every moment that the +next would be my last, for the Taugwalders, utterly unnerved, were not +only incapable of giving assistance, but were in such a state that a +slip might have been expected from them at any moment. After a time we +were able to do that which should have been done at first, and fixt rope +to firm rocks, in addition to being tied together. These ropes were cut +from time to time, and were left behind. Even with their assurance the +men were afraid to proceed, and several times old Peter turned with ashy +face and faltering limbs, and said with terrible emphasis, "I can not!" + +About 6 P.M. we arrived at the snow upon, the ridge descending toward +Zermatt, and all peril was over. We frequently looked, but in vain, for +traces of our unfortunate companions; we bent over the ridge and cried +to them, but no sound returned. Convinced at last that they were within +neither sight nor hearing, we ceased from our useless efforts, and, too +cast down for speech, silently gathered up our things, preparatory to +continuing the descent. + +When lo! a mighty arch appeared, rising above the Lyskamm high into the +sky. Pale, colorless and noiseless, but perfectly sharp and defined, +except where it was lost in the clouds, this unearthly apparition seemed +like a vision from another world, and almost appalled we watched with +amazement the gradual development of two vast crosses, one on either +side. If the Taugwalders had not been the first to perceive it, I should +have doubted my senses. They thought it had some connection with the +accident, and I, after a while, that it might bear some relations to +ourselves. But our movements had no effect upon it. The spectral forms +remained motionless. It was a fearful and wonderful sight, unique in my +experience, and impressive beyond description, at such a moment.... + +Night fell, and for an hour the descent was continued in the darkness. +At half-past nine a resting-place was found, and upon a wretched slab, +barely large enough to hold three, we passed six miserable hours. At +daybreak the descent was resumed, and from the Hornli ridge we ran down +to the chalets of Buhl and on to Zermatt. Seiler met me at his door, and +followed in silence to my room: "What is the matter?" "The Taugwalders +and I have returned." He did not need more, and burst into tears, but +lost no time in lamentations, and set to work to arouse the village. + +Ere long a score of men had started to ascend the Hohlicht heights, +above Kalbermatt and Z'Mutt, which commanded the plateau of the +Matterhorngletscher. They returned after six hours, and reported that +they had seen the bodies lying motionless on the snow. This was on +Saturday, and they proposed that we should leave on Sunday evening, so +as to arrive upon the plateau at daybreak on Monday. We started at 2 +A.M. on Sunday, the 16th, and followed the route that we had taken on +the previous Thursday as far as the Hornli. From thence we went down +to the right of the ridge, and mounted through the "sracs" of the +Matterhorngletscher. By 8:30 we had got to the plateau at the top of the +glacier, and within sight of the corner in which we knew my companions +must be. As we saw one weather-beaten man after another raise the +telescope, turn deadly pale and pass it on without a word to the next, +we knew that all hope was gone. We approached. They had fallen below as +they had fallen above--Croz a little in advance, Hadow near him, and +Hudson behind, but of Lord Francis Douglas we could see nothing.[50] We +left them where they fell, buried in snow at the base of the grandest +cliff of the most majestic mountain of the Alps. + + +AN ASCENT OF MONTE ROSA[51] + +BY JOHN TYNDALL + +On Monday, the 9th of August, we reached the Riffel, and, by good +fortune on the evening of the same day, my guide's brother, the +well-known Ulrich Lauener, also arrived at the hotel on his return from +Monte Rosa. From him we obtained all the information possible respecting +the ascent, and he kindly agreed to accompany us a little way the next +morning, to put us on the right track. At three A.M. the door of my +bedroom opened, and Christian Lauener announced to me that the weather +was sufficiently good to justify an attempt. The stars were shining +overhead; but Ulrich afterward drew our attention to some heavy clouds +which clung to the mountains on the other side of the valley of the +Visp; remarking that the weather might continue fair throughout the day, +but that these clouds were ominous. At four o'clock we were on our way, +by which time a gray stratus cloud had drawn itself across the neck of +the Matterhorn, and soon afterward another of the same nature encircled +his waist. We proceeded past the Riffelhorn to the ridge above the +Grner Glacier, from which Monte Rosa was visible from top to bottom, +and where an animated conversation in Swiss dialect commenced. + +Ulrich described the slopes, passes, and precipices, which were to guide +us; and Christian demanded explanations, until he was finally able to +declare to me that his knowledge was sufficient. We then bade Ulrich +good-by, and went forward. All was clear about Monte Rosa, and the +yellow morning light shone brightly upon its uppermost snows. Beside +the Queen of the Alps was the huge mass of the Lyskamm, with a saddle +stretching from the one to the other; next to the Lyskamm came two +white, rounded mounds, smooth and pure, the Twins Castor and Pollux, +and further to the right again the broad, brown flank of the Breithorn. +Behind us Mont Cervin[52] gathered the clouds more thickly round him, +until finally his grand obelisk was totally hidden. We went along the +mountain side for a time, and then descended to the glacier. + +The surface was hard frozen, and the ice crunched loudly under our +feet. There was a hollowness and volume in the sound which require +explanation; and this, I think, is furnished by the remarks of Sir John +Herschel on those hollow sounds at the Solfaterra, near Naples, from +which travelers have inferred the existence of cavities within the +mountain. At the place where these sounds are heard the earth is +friable, and, when struck, the concussion is reinforced and lengthened +by the partial echoes from the surfaces of the fragments. The +conditions for a similar effect exist upon the glacier, for the ice is +disintegrated to a certain depth, and from the innumerable places +of rupture little reverberations are sent, which give a length and +hollowness to the sound produced by the crushing of the fragments on the +surface. + +We looked to the sky at intervals, and once a meteor slid across it, +leaving a train of sparks behind. The blue firmament, from which the +stars shone down so brightly when we rose, was more and more invaded by +clouds, which advanced upon us from our rear, while before us the solemn +heights of Monte Rosa were bathed in rich yellow sunlight. As the day +advanced the radiance crept down toward the valleys; but still those +stealthy clouds advanced like a besieging army, taking deliberate +possession of the summits, one after another, while gray skirmishers +moved through the air above us. The play of light and shadow upon Monte +Rosa was at times beautiful, bars of gloom and zones of glory shifting +and alternating from top to bottom of the mountain. + +At five o'clock a gray cloud alighted on the shoulder of the Lyskamm, +which had hitherto been warmed by the lovely yellow light. Soon +afterward we reached the foot of Monte Rosa, and passed from the glacier +to a slope of rocks, whose rounded forms and furrowed surfaces showed +that the ice of former ages had moved over them; the granite was now +coated with lichens, and between the bosses where mold could rest were +patches of tender moss. As we ascended a peal to the right announced the +descent of an avalanche from the Twins; it came heralded by clouds of +ice-dust, which resembled the sphered masses of condensed vapor which +issue from a locomotive. + +A gentle snow-slope brought us to the base of a precipice of brown +rocks, round which we wound; the snow was in excellent order, and the +chasms were so firmly bridged by the frozen mass that no caution was +necessary in crossing them. Surmounting a weathered cliff to our left, +we paused upon the summit to look upon the scene around us. The snow +gliding insensibly from the mountains, or discharged in avalanches from +the precipices which it overhung, filled the higher valleys with pure +white glaciers, which were rifted and broken here and there, exposing +chasms and precipices from which gleamed the delicate blue of the +half-formed ice. Sometimes, however, the "nvs" spread over wide spaces +without a rupture or wrinkle to break the smoothness of the superficial +snow. The sky was now, for the most part, overcast, but through the +residual blue spaces the sun at intervals poured light over the rounded +bosses of the mountain. + +At half-past seven o'clock we reached another precipice of rock, to the +left of which our route lay, and here Lauener proposed to have some +refreshment; after which we went on again. The clouds spread more and +more, leaving at length mere specks and patches of blue between them. +Passing some high peaks, formed by the dislocation of the ice, we came +to a place where the "nv" was rent by crevasses, on the walls of which +the stratification, due to successive snowfalls, was thrown with great +beauty and definition. Between two of these fissures our way now lay; +the wall of one of them was hollowed out longitudinally midway down, +thus forming a roof above and a ledge below, and from roof to ledge +stretched a railing of cylindrical icicles, as if intended to bolt them +together. A cloud now for the first time touched the summit of Monte +Rosa, and sought to cling to it, but in a minute it dispersed in +shattered fragments, as if dashed to pieces for its presumption. The +mountain remained for a time clear and triumphant, but the triumph was +shortlived; like suitors that will not be repelled, the dusky vapors +came; repulse after repulse took place, and the sunlight gushed down +upon the heights, but it was manifest that the clouds gained ground in +the conflict. + +Until about a quarter-past nine o'clock our work was mere child's play, +a pleasant morning stroll along the flanks of the mountain; but steeper +slopes now rose above us, which called for more energy, and more care +in the fixing of the feet. Looked at from below, some of these slopes +appeared precipitous; but we were too well acquainted with the effect +of fore-shortening to let this daunt us. At each step we dug our batons +into the deep snow. When first driven in, the batons [53] "dipt" from +us, but were brought, as we walked forward, to the vertical, and finally +beyond it at the other side. The snow was thus forced aside, a rubbing +of the staff against it, and of the snow-particles against each other, +being the consequence. We had thus perpetual rupture and regelation; +while the little sounds consequent upon rupture reinforced by the +partial echoes from the surfaces of the granules, were blended together +to a note resembling the lowing of cows. + +Hitherto I had paused at intervals to make notes, or to take an angle; +but these operations now ceased, not from want of time, but from pure +dislike; for when the eye has to act the part of a sentinel who feels +that at any moment the enemy may be upon him; when the body must be +balanced with precision, and legs and arms, besides performing actual +labor, must be kept in readiness for possible contingencies; above all, +when you feel that your safety depends upon yourself alone, and that, if +your footing gives way, there is no strong arm behind ready to be thrown +between you and destruction; under such circumstances the relish for +writing ceases, and you are willing to hand over your impressions to the +safekeeping of memory. + +Prom the vast boss which constitutes the lower portion of Monte Rosa +cliffy edges run upward to the summit. Were the snow removed from +these we should, I doubt not, see them as toothed or serrated crags, +justifying the term "kamm," or "comb," applied to such edges by the +Germans. Our way now lay along such a "kamm," the cliffs of which had, +however, caught the snow, and been completely covered by it, forming an +edge like the ridge of a house-roof, which sloped steeply upward. On the +Lyskamm side of the edge there was no footing, and if a human body fell +over here, it would probably pass through a vertical space of some +thousands of feet, falling or rolling, before coming to rest. On +the other side the snow-slope was less steep, but excessively +perilous-looking, and intersected by precipices of ice. Dense clouds +now enveloped us, and made our position far uglier than if it had been +fairly illuminated. The valley below us was one vast cauldron, filled +with precipitated vapor, which came seething at times up the sides of +the mountain. Sometimes this fog would clear away, and the light would +gleam from the dislocated glaciers. My guide continually admonished me +to make my footing sure, and to fix at each step my staff firmly in the +consolidated snow. At one place, for a short steep ascent, the slope +became hard ice, and our position a very ticklish one. We hewed our +steps as we moved upward, but were soon glad to deviate from the ice to +a position scarcely less awkward. The wind had so acted upon the snow as +to fold it over the edge of the kamm, thus causing it to form a kind +of cornice, which overhung the precipice on the Lyskamm side of the +mountain. This cornice now bore our weight; its snow had become somewhat +firm, but it was yielding enough to permit the feet to sink in it a +little way, and thus secure us at least against the danger of slipping. +Here, also, at each step we drove our batons firmly into the snow, +availing ourselves of whatever help they could render. + +Once, while thus securing my anchorage, the handle of my hatchet went +right through the cornice on which we stood, and, on withdrawing it, I +could see through the aperture into the cloud-crammed gulf below. We +continued ascending until we reached a rock protruding from the snow, +and here we halted for a few minutes. Lauener looked upward through the +fog. "According to all description," he observed, "this ought to be the +last kamm of the mountain; but in this obscurity we can see nothing." +Snow began to fall, and we recommenced our journey, quitting the rocks +and climbing again along the edge. Another hour brought us to a crest of +cliffs, at which, to our comfort, the kamm appeared to cease, and other +climbing qualities were demanded of us. + +On the Lyskamm side, as I have said, rescue would be out of the +question, should the climber go over the edge. On the other side of the +edge rescue seemed possible, tho' the slope, as stated already, was +most dangerously steep. I now asked Lauener what he would have done, +supposing my footing to have failed on the latter slope. He did not seem +to like the question, but said that he should have considered well for +a moment and then have sprung after me; but he exhorted me to drive all +such thoughts away. I laughed at him, and this did more to set his mind +at rest than any formal profession of courage could have done. + +We were now among rocks; we climbed cliffs and descended them, and +advanced sometimes with our feet on narrow ledges, holding tightly on to +other ledges by our fingers; sometimes, cautiously balanced, we moved +along edges of rock with precipices on both sides. Once, in getting +round a crag, Lauener shook a book from his pocket; it was arrested by a +rock about sixty or eighty feet below us. He wished to regain it, but I +offered to supply its place, if he thought the descent too dangerous. He +said he would make the trial, and parted from me. I thought it useless +to remain idle. A cleft was before me, through which I must pass; so +pressing my knees and back against its opposite sides, I gradually +worked myself to the top. I descended the other face of the rock, +and then, through a second ragged fissure, to the summit of another +pinnacle. The highest point of the mountain was now at hand, separated +from me merely by a short saddle, carved by weathering out the crest +of the mountain. I could hear Lauener clattering after me, through the +rocks behind. I dropt down upon the saddle, crossed it, climbed the +opposite cliff, and "die hchste Spitze" of Monte Rosa was won. + +Lauener joined me immediately, and we mutually congratulated each other +on the success of the ascent. The residue of the bread and meat was +produced, and a bottle of tea was also appealed to. Mixed with a little +cognac, Lauener declared that he had never tasted anything like it. +Snow fell thickly at intervals, and the obscurity was very great; +occasionally this would lighten and permit the sun to shed a ghastly +dilute light upon us through the gleaming vapor. I put my boiling-water +apparatus in order, and fixt it in a corner behind a ledge; the shelter +was, however, insufficient, so I placed my hat above the vessel. The +boiling-point was 184.92 deg. Fahr., the ledge on which the instrument +stood being five feet below the highest point of the mountain. + +The ascent from the Riffel Hotel occupied us about seven hours, nearly +two of which were spent upon the kmm and crest. Neither of us felt in +the least degree fatigued; I, indeed, felt so fresh, that had another +Monte Rosa been planted on the first, I should have continued the +climb without hesitation, and with strong hopes of reaching the top. +I experienced no trace of mountain sickness, lassitude, shortness of +breath, heart-beat, or headache; nevertheless the summit of Monte Rosa +is 15,284 feet high, being less than 500 feet lower than Mont Blanc. It +is, I think, perfectly certain, that the rarefaction of the air at this +height is not sufficient of itself to produce the symptoms referred to; +physical exertion must be superadded. + + +MONT BLANC ASCENDED, HUXLEY GOING PART WAY[54] + +BY JOHN TYNDALL + +The way for a time was excessively rough,[55] our route being overspread +with the fragments of peaks which had once reared themselves to our +left, but which frost and lightning had shaken to pieces, and poured +in granite avalanches down the mountain. We were sometimes among huge, +angular boulders, and sometimes amid lighter shingle, which gave way at +every step, thus forcing us to shift our footing incessantly. Escaping +from these we crossed the succession of secondary glaciers which lie +at the feet of the Aiguilles, and, having secured firewood, found +ourselves, after some hours of hard work, at the Pierre l'Echelle. Here +we were furnished with leggings of coarse woolen cloth to keep out the +snow; they were tied under the knees and quite tightly again over the +insteps, so that the legs were effectually protected. We had some +refreshment, possest ourselves of the ladder, and entered upon the +glacier. + +The ice was excessively fissured; we crossed crevasses and crept +round slippery ridges, cutting steps in the ice wherever climbing +was necessary. This rendered our progress very slow. Once, with the +intention of lending a helping hand, I stept forward upon a block of +granite which happened to be poised like a rocking stone upon the ice, +tho' I did not know it; it treacherously turned under me; I fell, but my +hands were in instant requisition, and I escaped with a bruise, from +which, however, the blood oozed angrily. We found the ladder necessary +in crossing some of the chasms, the iron spikes at its end being firmly +driven into the ice at one side, while the other end rested on the +opposite side of the fissure. The middle portion of the glacier was +not difficult. Mounds of ice rose beside us right and left, which were +sometimes split into high towers and gaunt-looking pyramids, while the +space between was unbroken. + +Twenty minutes' walking brought us again to a fissured portion of the +glacier, and here our porter left the ladder on the ice behind him. For +some time I was not aware of this, but we were soon fronted by a chasm +to pass which we were in consequence compelled to make a long and +dangerous circuit amid crests of crumbling ice. This accomplished, we +hoped that no repetition of the process would occur, but we speedily +came to a second fissure, where it was necessary to step from a +projecting end of ice to a mass of soft snow which overhung the opposite +side. Simond could reach this snow with his long-handled ax; he beat +it down to give it rigidity, but it was exceedingly tender, and as he +worked at it he continued to express his fears that it would not bear +us. I was the lightest of the party, and therefore tested the passage +first; being partially lifted by Simond on the end of his ax, I crossed +the fissure, obtained some anchorage at the other side, and helped the +others over. We afterward ascended until another chasm, deeper and wider +than any we had hitherto encountered, arrested us. We walked alongside +of it in search of a snow-bridge, which we at length found, but the +keystone of the arch had, unfortunately, given way, leaving projecting +eaves of snow at both sides, between which we could look into the gulf, +till the gloom of its deeper portions cut the vision short. + +Both sides of the crevasse were sounded, but no sure footing was +obtained; the snow was beaten and carefully trodden down as near to the +edge as possible, but it finally broke away from the foot and fell into +the chasm. One of our porters was short-legged and a bad iceman; the +other was a daring fellow, and he now threw the knapsack from his +shoulders, came to the edge of the crevasse, looked into it, but drew +back again. After a pause he repeated the act, testing the snow with +his feet and staff. I looked at the man as he stood beside the chasm +manifestly undecided as to whether he should take the step upon which +his life would hang, and thought it advisable to put a stop to such +perilous play. I accordingly interposed, the man withdrew from the +crevasse, and he and Simond descended to fetch the ladder. + +While they were away Huxley sat down upon the ice, with an expression of +fatigue stamped upon his countenance; the spirit and the muscles were +evidently at war, and the resolute will mixed itself strangely with the +sense of peril and feeling of exhaustion. He had been only two days +with us, and, tho' his strength is great, he had had no opportunity of +hardening himself by previous exercise upon the ice for the task which +he had undertaken. The ladder now arrived, and we crossed the crevasse. +I was intentionally the last of the party, Huxley being immediately in +front of me. The determination of the man disguised his real condition +from everybody but himself, but I saw that the exhausting journey over +the boulders and dbris had been too much for his London limbs. + +Converting my waterproof haversack into a cushion, I made him sit down +upon it at intervals, and by thus breaking the steep ascent into short +stages we reached the cabin of the Grands Mulets together. Here I spread +a rug on the boards, and, placing my bag for a pillow, he lay down, and +after an hour's profound sleep he rose refreshed and well; but still he +thought it wise not to attempt the ascent farther. Our porters left us; +a baton was stretched across the room over the stove, and our wet socks +and leggings were thrown across it to dry; our boots were placed around +the fire, and we set about preparing our evening meal. A pan was placed +upon the fire, and filled with snow, which in due time melted and +boiled; I ground some chocolate and placed it in the pan, and afterward +ladled the beverage into the vessels we possest, which consisted of two +earthen dishes and the metal cases of our brandy flasks. After supper +Simond went out to inspect the glacier, and was observed by Huxley, as +twilight fell, in a state of deep contemplation beside a crevasse. + +Gradually the stars appeared, but as yet no moon. Before lying down we +went out to look at the firmament, and noticed, what I supposed has been +observed to some extent by everybody, that the stars near the horizon +twinkled busily, while those near the zenith shone with a steady light. +One large star, in particular, excited our admiration; it flashed +intensely, and changed color incessantly, sometimes blushing like a +ruby, and again gleaming like an emerald. A determinate color would +sometimes remain constant for a sensible time, but usually the flashes +followed each other in very quick succession. + +Three planks were now placed across the room near the stove, and upon +these, with their rugs folded round them, Huxley and Hirst stretched +themselves, while I nestled on the boards at the most distant end of the +room. We rose at eleven o'clock, renewed the fire and warmed ourselves, +after which we lay down again. I, at length, observed a patch of pale +light upon the wooden wall of the cabin, which had entered through a +hole in the end of the edifice, and rising found that it was past one +o'clock. The cloudless moon was shining over the wastes of snow, and the +scene outside was at once wild, grand, and beautiful. + +Breakfast was soon prepared, tho' not without difficulty; we had no +candles, they had been forgotten; but I fortunately possest a box of +wax matches, of which Huxley took charge, patiently igniting them in +succession, and thus giving us a tolerably continuous light. We had +some tea, which had been made at the Montanvert,[56] and carried to the +Grands Mulets in a bottle. My memory of that tea is not pleasant; it had +been left a whole night in contact with its leaves, and smacked strongly +of tannin. The snow-water, moreover, with which we diluted it was not +pure, but left a black residuum at the bottom of the dishes in which the +beverage was served. The few provisions deemed necessary being placed in +Simond's knapsack, at twenty minutes past two o'clock we scrambled down +the rocks, leaving Huxley behind us. + +The snow was hardened by the night's frost, and we were cheered by the +hope of being able to accomplish the ascent with comparatively little +labor. We were environed by an atmosphere of perfect purity; the larger +stars hung like gems above us, and the moon, about half full, shone with +wondrous radiance in the dark firmament. One star in particular, which +lay eastward from the moon, suddenly made its appearance above one of +the Aiguilles, and burned there with unspeakable splendor. We turned +once toward the Mulets, and saw Huxley's form projected against the sky +as he stood upon a pinnacle of rock; he gave us a last wave of the hand +and descended, while we receded from him into the solitudes. + +The evening previous our guide had examined the glacier for some +distance, his progress having been arrested by a crevasse. Beside this +we soon halted: it was spanned at one place by a bridge of snow, which +was of too light a structure to permit of Simond's testing it alone; +we therefore paused while our guide uncoiled a rope and tied us all +together. The moment was to me a peculiarly solemn one. Our little party +seemed so lonely and so small amid the silence and the vastness of the +surrounding scene. We were about to try our strength under unknown +conditions, and as the various possibilities of the enterprise crowded +on the imagination, a sense of responsibility for a moment opprest +me. But as I looked aloft and saw the glory of the heavens, my heart +lightened, and I remarked cheerily to Hirst that Nature seemed to smile +upon our work. "Yes," he replied, in a calm and earnest voice, "and, God +willing, we shall accomplish it." + +A pale light now overspread the eastern sky, which increased, as we +ascended, to a daffodil tinge; this afterward heightened to orange, +deepening at one extremity into red, and fading at the other into a +pure, ethereal hue to which it would be difficult to assign a special +name. Higher up the sky was violet, and this changed by insensible +degrees into the darkling blue of the zenith, which had to thank the +light of moon and stars alone for its existence. We wound steadily for a +time through valleys of ice, climbed white and slippery slopes, crossed +a number of crevasses, and after some time found ourselves beside a +chasm of great depth and width, which extended right and left as far +as we could see. We turned to the left, and marched along its edge in +search of a "pont"; but matters became gradually worse; other crevasses +joined on to the first one, and the further we proceeded the more riven +and dislocated the ice became. + +At length we reached a place where further advance was impossible. +Simond, in his difficulty complained of the want of light, and wished us +to wait for the advancing day; I, on the contrary, thought that we had +light enough and ought to make use of it. Here the thought occurred to +me that Simond, having been only once before to the top of the mountain, +might not be quite clear about the route; the glacier, however, changes +within certain limits from year to year, so that a general knowledge was +all that could be expected, and we trusted to our own muscles to make +good any mistake in the way of guidance. + +We now turned and retraced our steps along the edges of chasms where the +ice was disintegrated and insecure, and succeeded at length in finding a +bridge which bore us across the crevasse. This error caused us the loss +of an hour, and after walking for this time we could cast a stone from +the point we had attained to the place whence we had been compelled to +return. + +Our way now lay along the face of a steep incline of snow, which was cut +by the fissure we had just passed, in a direction parallel to our route. +On the heights to our right, loose ice-crags seemed to totter, and we +passed two tracks over which the frozen blocks had rushed some short +time previously. We were glad to get out of the range of these terrible +projectiles, and still more so to escape the vicinity of that ugly +crevasse. To be killed in the open air would be a luxury, compared with +having the life squeezed out of one in the horrible gloom of these +chasms. The blush of the coming day became more and more intense; still +the sun himself did not appear, being hidden from us by the peaks of +the Aiguille du Midi, which were drawn clear and sharp against the +brightening sky. Right under this Aiguille were heaps of snow smoothly +rounded and constituting a portion of the sources whence the Glacier du +Gant is fed; these, as the day advanced, bloomed with a rosy light. We +reached the Petit Plateau, which we found covered with the remains of +ice avalanches; above us upon the crest of the mountain rose three +mighty bastions, divided from each other by deep, vertical rents, with +clean smooth walls, across which the lines of annual bedding were drawn +like courses of masonry. From these, which incessantly renew themselves, +and from the loose and broken ice-crags near them, the boulders amid +which we now threaded our way had been discharged. When they fall their +descent must be sublime. + +The snow had been gradually getting deeper, and the ascent more +wearisome, but superadded to this at the Petit Plateau was the +uncertainty of the footing between the blocks of ice. In many places +the space was merely covered by a thin crust, which, when trod upon, +instantly yielded and we sank with a shock sometimes to the hips. Our +way next lay up a steep incline to the Grand Plateau, the depth and +tenderness of the snow augmenting as we ascended. We had not yet seen +the sun, but as we attained the brow which forms the entrance to the +Grand Plateau, he hung his disk upon a spike of rock to our left, and, +surrounded by a glory of interference spectra of the most gorgeous +colors, blazed down upon us. On the Grand Plateau we halted and had our +frugal refreshment. + +At some distance to our left was the crevasse into which Dr. Hamel's +three guides were precipitated by an avalanche in 1820; they are still +entombed in the ice, and some future explorer may, perhaps, see them +disgorged lower down, fresh and undecayed. They can hardly reach the +surface until they pass the snow-line of the glacier, for above this +line the quantity of snow that annually falls being in excess of the +quantity melted, the tendency would be to make the ice-covering above +them thicker. But it is also possible that the waste of the ice +underneath may have brought the bodies to the bed of the glacier, where +their very bones may have been ground to mud by an agency which the +hardest rocks can not withstand. + +As the sun poured his light upon the Plateau the little snow-facets +sparkled brilliantly, sometimes with a pure white light, and at others +with prismatic colors. Contrasted with the white spaces above and +around us were the dark mountains on the opposite side of the valley of +Chamouni, around which fantastic masses of cloud were beginning to build +themselves. Mont Buet, with its cone of snow, looked small, and the +Brevent altogether mean; the limestone bastions of the Fys, however, +still presented a front of gloom and grandeur. We traversed the Grand +Plateau, and at length reached the base of an extremely steep incline +which stretched upward toward the Corridor. Here, as if produced by a +fault, consequent upon the sinking of the ice in front, rose a vertical +precipice, from the coping of which vast stalactites of ice depended. + +Previous to reaching this place I had noticed a haggard expression upon +the countenance of our guide, which was now intensified by the prospect +of the ascent before him. Hitherto he had always been in front, which +was certainly the most fatiguing position. I felt that I must now take +the lead, so I spoke cheerily to the man and placed him behind me. +Marking a number of points upon the slope as resting places, I went +swiftly from one to the other. The surface of the snow had been +partially melted by the sun and then refrozen, thus forming a +superficial crust, which bore the weight up to a certain point, and then +suddenly gave way, permitting the leg to sink to above the knee. The +shock consequent on this, and the subsequent effort necessary to +extricate the leg, were extremely fatiguing. My motion was complained of +as too quick, and my tracks as imperfect; I moderated the former, and to +render my footholes broad and sure, I stamped upon the frozen crust, +and twisted my legs in the soft mass underneath,--a terribly exhausting +process. I thus led the way to the base of the Rochers Bouges, up to +which the fault already referred to had prolonged itself as a crevasse, +which was roofed at one place by a most dangerous-looking snow-bridge. + +Simond came to the front; I drew his attention to the state of the snow, +and proposed climbing the Rochers Rouges; but, with a promptness unusual +with him, he replied that this was impossible; the bridge was our only +means of passing, and we must try it. We grasped our ropes, and dug our +feet firmly into the snow to check the man's descent if the "pont" gave +way, but to our astonishment it bore him, and bore us safely after +him. The slope which we had now to ascend had the snow swept from its +surface, and was therefore firm ice. It was most dangerously steep, and, +its termination being the fretted coping of the precipice to which I +have referred, if we slid downward we should shoot over this and be +dashed to pieces upon the ice below.[57] Simond, who had come to the +front to cross the crevasse, was now engaged in cutting steps, which he +made deep and large, so that they might serve us on our return. But the +listless strokes of his ax proclaimed his exhaustion; so I took the +implement out of his hands, and changed places with him. Step after step +was hewn, but the top of the Corridor appeared ever to recede from us. + +Hirst was behind, unoccupied, and could thus turn his thoughts to the +peril of our position; he "felt" the angle on which we hung, and saw the +edge of the precipice, to which less than a quarter of a minute's slide +would carry us, and for the first time during the journey he grew giddy. +A cigar which he lighted for the purpose tranquilized him. + +I hewed sixty steps upon this slope, and each step had cost a minute, by +Hirst's watch. The Mur de la Cte was still before us, and on this the +guide-books informed us two or three hundred steps were sometimes found +necessary. If sixty steps cost an hour, what would be the cost of two +hundred? The question was disheartening in the extreme, for the time at +which we had calculated on reaching the summit was already passed, while +the chief difficulties remained unconquered. Having hewn our way along +the harder ice we reached snow. I again resorted to stamping to secure a +footing, and while thus engaged became, for the first time, aware of the +drain of force to which I was subjecting myself. The thought of being +absolutely exhausted had never occurred to me, and from first to last I +had taken no care to husband my strength. I always calculated that the +"will" would serve me even should the muscles fail, but I now found that +mechanical laws rule man in the long run; that no effort of will, no +power of spirit, can draw beyond a certain limit upon muscular force. +The soul, it is true, can stir the body to action, but its function is +to excite and apply force, and not to create it. + +While stamping forward through the frozen crust I was compelled to pause +at short intervals; then would set out again apparently fresh, to +find, however, in a few minutes, that my strength was gone, and that +I required to rest once more. In this way I gained the summit of the +Corridor, when Hirst came to the front, and I felt some relief in +stepping slowly after him, making use of the holes into which his feet +had sunk. He thus led the way to the base of the Mur de la Cte, the +thought of which had so long cast a gloom upon us; here we left our rope +behind us, and while pausing I asked Simond whether he did not feel +a desire to go to the summit. "Surely," was his reply, "but!--" Our +guide's mind was so constituted that the "but" seemed essential to its +peace. I stretched my hands toward him, and said: "Simond, we must do +it." One thing alone I felt could defeat us: the usual time of the +ascent had been more than doubled, the day was already far spent, and if +the ascent would throw our subsequent descent into night it could not be +contemplated. + +We now faced the Mur, which was by no means so bad as we had expected. +Driving the iron claws of our boots into the scars made by the ax, and +the spikes of our batons into the slope above our feet, we ascended +steadily until the summit was attained, and the top of the mountain rose +clearly above us. We congratulated ourselves upon this; but Simond, +probably fearing that our joy might become too full, remarked: "But the +summit is still far off!" It was, alas! too true. The snow became soft +again, and our weary limbs sank in it as before. Our guide went on in +front, audibly muttering his doubts as to our ability to reach the top, +and at length he threw himself upon the snow, and exclaimed, "I give +up!" + +Hirst now undertook the task of rekindling the guide's enthusiasm, after +which Simond rose, exclaiming: "Oh, but this makes my knees ache!" and +went forward. Two rocks break through the snow between the summit of the +Mur and the top of the mountain; the first is called the Petits Mulets, +and the highest the Derniers Rochers. At the former of these we paused +to rest, and finished our scanty store of wine and provisions. We had +not a bit of bread nor a drop of wine left; our brandy flasks were also +nearly exhausted, and thus we had to contemplate the journey to the +summit, and the subsequent descent to the Grands Mulets, with out the +slightest prospect of physical refreshment. The almost total loss of two +nights' sleep, with two days' toil superadded, made me long for a few +minutes' doze, so I stretched myself upon a composite couch of snow and +granite, and immediately fell asleep. + +My friend, however, soon aroused me. "You quite frighten me," he said; +"I have listened for some minutes, and have not heard you breathe once." +I had, in reality, been taking deep draughts of the mountain air, but so +silently as not to be heard. + +I now filled our empty wine-bottle with snow and placed it in the +sunshine, that we might have a little water on our return. We then +rose; it was half-past two o'clock; we had been upward of twelve hours +climbing, and I calculated that, whether we reached the summit or not, +we could at all events work "toward" it for another hour. To the sense +of fatigue previously experienced, a new phenomenon was now added--the +beating of the heart. We were incessantly pulled up by this, which +sometimes became so intense as to suggest danger. I counted the number +of paces which we were able to accomplish without resting, and found +that at the end of every twenty, sometimes at the end of fifteen, we +were compelled to pause. At each pause my heart throbbed audibly, as I +leaned upon my staff, and the subsidence of this action was always +the signal for further advance. My breathing was quick, but light and +unimpeded. + +I endeavored to ascertain whether the hip-joint, on account of the +diminished atmospheric pressure, became loosened, so as to throw the +weight of the leg upon the surrounding ligaments, but could not be +certain about it. I also sought a little aid and encouragement from +philosophy, endeavoring to remember what great things had been done by +the accumulation of small quantities, and I urged upon myself that the +present was a case in point, and that the summation of distances twenty +paces each must finally place us at the top. Still the question of time +left the matter long in doubt, and until we had passed the Derniers +Rochers we worked on with the stern indifference of men who were doing +their duty, and did not look to consequences. Here, however, a gleam +of hope began to brighten our souls: the summit became visible nearer, +Simond showed more alacrity; at length success became certain, and at +half-past three P.M. my friend and I clasped hands upon the top. + +The summit of the mountain is an elongated ridge, which has been +compared to the back of an ass. It was perfectly manifest that we were +dominant over all other mountains; as far as the eye could range Mont +Blanc had no competitor. The summits which had looked down upon us in +the morning were now far beneath us. The Dme du Got, which had held +its threatening "sracs" above us so long, was now at our feet. The +Aiguille du Midi, Mont Blanc du Tacul, and the Monts Maudits, the +Talfre, with its surrounding peaks, the Grand Jorasse, Mont Mallet, and +the Aiguille du Gant, with our own familiar glaciers, were all below +us. And as our eye ranged over the broad shoulders of the mountain, over +ice hills and valleys, plateaux and far-stretching slopes of snow, the +conception of its magnitude grew upon us, and imprest us more and more. + +The clouds were very grand--grander, indeed, than anything I had ever +before seen. Some of them seemed to hold thunder in their breasts, they +were so dense and dark; others, with their faces turned sunward, shone +with the dazzling whiteness of the mountain snow; while others again +built themselves into forms resembling gigantic elm trees, loaded with +foliage. Toward the horizon the luxury of color added itself to the +magnificent alternation of light and shade. Clear spaces of amber and +ethereal green embraced the red and purple cumuli, and seemed to form +the cradle in which they swung. Closer at hand squally mists, suddenly +engendered, were driven hither and thither by local winds; while the +clouds at a distance lay "like angels sleeping on the wing," with +scarcely visibly motion. Mingling with the clouds, and sometimes rising +above them, were the highest mountain heads, and as our eyes wandered +from peak to peak, onward to the remote horizon, space itself seemed +more vast from the manner in which the objects which it held were +distributed.... + +The day was waning, and, urged by the warnings of our ever-prudent +guide, we at length began the descent. Gravity was in our favor, but +gravity could not entirely spare our wearied limbs, and where we sank +in the snow we found our downward progress very trying. I suffered from +thirst, but after we had divided the liquefied snow at the Petits Mulets +among us we had nothing to drink. I crammed the clean snow into my +mouth, but the process of melting was slow and tantalizing to a parched +throat, while the chill was painful to the teeth. + + +THE JUNGFRAU-JOCH[58] + +BY SIR LESLIE STEPHEN + +I was once more standing upon the Wengern Alp, and gazing longingly at +the Jungfrau-Joch. Surely the Wengern Alp must be precisely the loveliest +place in this world. To hurry past it, and listen to the roar of the +avalanches, is a very unsatisfactory mode of enjoyment; it reminds one +too much of letting off crackers in a cathedral. The mountains seem to +be accomplices of the people who charge fifty centimes for an echo. But +it does one's moral nature good to linger there at sunset or in the +early morning, when tourists have ceased from traveling; and the jaded +cockney may enjoy a kind of spiritual bath in the soothing calmness of +scenery.... + +We, that is a little party of six Englishmen with six Oberland guides, +who left the inn at 3 A.M. on July 20, 1862, were not, perhaps, in a +specially poetical mood. Yet as the sun rose while we were climbing the +huge buttress of the Mnch, the dullest of us--I refer, of course, +to myself--felt something of the spirit of the scenery. The day was +cloudless, and a vast inverted cone of dazzling rays suddenly struck +upward into the sky through the gap between the Mnch and the Eiger, +which, as some effect of perspective shifted its apparent position, +looked like a glory streaming from the very summit of the Eiger. It was +a good omen, if not in any more remote sense, yet as promising a fine +day. After a short climb we descended upon the Gugg, glacier, most +lamentably unpoetical of names, and mounted by it to the great plateau +which lies below the cliffs immediately under the col. We reached this +at about seven, and, after a short meal, carefully examined the route +above us. Half way between us and the col lay a small and apparently +level plateau of snow. Once upon it we felt confident that we could get +to the top.... + +We plunged at once into the maze of crevasses, finding our passage much +facilitated by the previous efforts of our guides. We were constantly +walking over ground strewed with crumbling blocks of ice, the recent +fall of which was proved by their sharp white fractures, and with a +thing like an infirm toad stool twenty feet high, towering above our +heads. Once we passed under a natural arch of ice, built in evident +disregard of all principles of architectural stability. Hurrying +judiciously at such critical points, and creeping slowly round those +where the footing was difficult, we manage to thread the labyrinth +safely, whilst Rubi appeared to think it rather pleasant than otherwise +in such places to have his head fixt in a kind of pillory between two +rungs of a ladder, with twelve feet of it sticking out behind and twelve +feet before him. + +We reached the gigantic crevasse at 7.35. We passed along it to a point +where its two lips nearly joined, and the side furthest from us was +considerably higher than that upon which we stood. Fixing the foot of +the ladder upon this ledge, we swung the top over, and found that it +rested satisfactorily against the opposite bank. Almer crept up it, +and made the top firmer by driving his ax into the snow underneath the +highest step. The rest of us followed, carefully roped, and with the +caution to rest our knees on the sides of the ladder, as several of the +steps were extremely weak--a remark which was equally applicable to one, +at least, of the sides. We crept up the rickety old machine, however, +looking down between our legs into the blue depths of the crevasse, and +at 8.15 the whole party found itself satisfactorily perched on the edge +of the nearly level snow plateau, looking up at the long slopes of +broken nv that led to the col.... + +When the man behind was also engaged in hauling himself up by the rope +attached to your waist, when the two portions of the rope formed an +acute angle, when your footing was confined to the insecure grip of one +toe on a slippery bit of ice, and when a great hummock of hard srac was +pressing against the pit of your stomach and reducing you to a +position of neutral equilibrium, the result was a feeling of qualified +acquiescence in Michel or Almer's lively suggestion of "Vorwrts! +vorwrts!" + +Somehow or other we did ascend. The excitement made the time seem short; +and after what seemed to me to be half an hour, which was in fact nearly +two hours, we had crept, crawled, climbed and wormed our way through +various obstacles, till we found ourselves brought up by a huge +overhanging wall of blue ice. This wall was no doubt the upper side of +a crevasse, the lower part of which had been filled by snow-drift. Its +face was honeycombed by the usual hemispherical chippings, which somehow +always reminds me of the fretted walls of the Alhambra; and it was +actually hollowed out so that its upper edge overhung our heads at a +height of some twenty or thirty feet; the long fringe of icicles which +adorned it had made a slippery pathway of ice at two or three feet +distance from the foot of the wall by the freezing water which dripped +from them; and along this we crept, in hopes that none of the icicles +would come down bodily. + +The wall seemed to thin out and become much lower toward our left, and +we moved cautiously toward its lowest point. The edge upon which we +walked was itself very narrow, and ran down at a steep angle to the +top of a lower icefall which repeated the form of the upper. It almost +thinned out at the point where the upper wall was lowest. Upon this +inclined ledge, however, we fixt the foot of our ladder. The difficulty +of doing so conveniently was increased by a transverse crevasse which +here intersected the other system. The foot, however, was fixt and +rendered tolerably safe by driving in firmly several of our alpenstocks +and axes under the lowest step. Almer, then, amidst great excitement, +went forward to mount it. Should we still find an impassable system of +crevasses above us, or were we close to the top? A gentle breeze which +had been playing along the last ledge gave me hope that we were really +not far off. As Almer reached the top about twelve o'clock, a loud +yodel gave notice to all the party that our prospects were good. I soon +followed, and saw, to my great delight, a stretch of smooth, white snow, +without a single crevasse, rising in a gentle curve from our feet to the +top of the col. + +The people who had been watching us from the Wengern Alp had been +firing salutes all day, whenever the idea struck them, and whenever we +surmounted a difficulty, such as the first great crevasse. We heard the +faint sound of two or three guns as we reached the final plateau. We +should, properly speaking, have been uproariously triumphant over our +victory. To say the truth, our party of that summer was only too apt to +break out into undignified explosions of animal spirits, bordering at +times upon horseplay.... + +The top of the Jungfrau-Joch comes rather like a bathos in poetry. It +rises so gently above the steep ice wall, and it is so difficult to +determine the precise culminating point, that our enthusiasm oozed out +gradually instead of producing a sudden explosion; and that instead of +giving three cheers, singing "God Save the Queen," or observing any of +the traditional ceremonial of a simpler generation of travelers, we +calmly walked forward as tho' we had been crossing Westminster Bridge, +and on catching sight of a small patch of rocks near the foot of +the Mnch, rushed precipitately down to it and partook of our third +breakfast. Which things, like most others, might easily be made into an +allegory. + +The great dramatic moments of life are very apt to fall singularly flat. +We manage to discount all their interest beforehand; and are amazed to +find that the day to which we have looked forward so long--the day, +it may be, of our marriage, or ordination, or election to be Lord +Mayor--finds us curiously unconscious of any sudden transformation and +as strongly inclined to prosaic eating and drinking as usual. At a later +period we may become conscious of its true significance, and perhaps the +satisfactory conquest of this new pass has given us more pleasure in +later years than it did at the moment. + +However that may be, we got under way again after a meal and a chat, our +friends Messrs. George and Moore descending the Aletsch glacier to the +Aeggischhorn, whose summit was already in sight, and deceptively near in +appearance. The remainder of the party soon turned off to the left, and +ascended the snow slopes to the gap between the Mnch and Trugberg. As +we passed these huge masses, rising in solitary grandeur from the center +of one of the noblest snowy wastes of the Alps, Morgan reluctantly +confest for the first time that he knew nothing exactly like it in +Wales. + + + +XI + +OTHER ALPINE TOPICS + +THE GREAT ST. BERNARD HOSPICE[59] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +The Pass of the Great St. Bernard was a well-known one long before the +hospice was built. Before the Christian era, the Romans used it as a +highway across the Alps, constantly improving the road as travel over +it increased. Many lives were lost, however, as no material safeguards +could obviate the danger from the elements, and no one will ever know +the number of souls who met their end in the blinding snows and chilling +blasts of those Alpine heights. + +To Bernard de Menthon is due the credit of the mountain hospice. He was +the originator of the idea and the founder of the institution. He has +since been canonized as a saint and he well deserved the honor, if it be +a virtue to sacrifice oneself, as we believe, and to try and save the +lives of one's fellows! It is no easy existence which St. Bernard chose +for himself and followers. The very aspect of the pass is grand but +gloomy. None of the softness of nature is seen. There is no verdure, no +beauty of coloring, nothing but bleak, bare rock, great piles of stones, +and occasional patches of fallen snow. It is thoroughly exposed, the +winds always moaning mournfully around the buildings.... + +The trip begins at Martigny. First there is a level stretch, then a +long, steady climb, after which begins the real road to the pass. The +views are very lovely, and while quite different in some ways excel +all passes except the famous Simplon. The scenery is very varied, +the mountains are far enough off to give a good perspective, and the +villages are most picturesque. The absence of snow peaks in any great +number will be felt by some, but even a lover of such soon forgets the +lack in the exceeding beauty and loveliness of the valleys. + +Toward the top of the pass there is quite a transformation. Both the +road and the scenery change, the first becoming more and more steep +and stony, the latter showing more and more of savage grandeur, as the +green, smiling valleys are no longer seen, but in their place appear +barren and rugged rocks and slopes, with the marks of the ravages +wrought by storm, landslide and avalanche. The wind has fuller play +and seems to moan in a mournful, dirge-like manner, accentuating the +characteristics of bleakness and desolation which obtain at the top of +the pass, all the more noticeable if the traveler arrives at dusk, just +as the sun has disappeared behind the mountains. + +In this dreary place stands the hospice. The present buildings are not +very old, the hospice only dating from the sixteenth century and the +church from the seventeenth century, while the other structures, which +have been built for the accommodation of strangers are comparatively +new. Twelve monks of the Augustinian Order are regularly in residence +here. They come when about twenty years of age; but so severe is the +climate, so hard the life and so stern the rule that, after a service of +about fifteen years, they generally have to seek a lower altitude, often +ruined in health, with their powers completely sapped by the rigors and +privations which they have endured. Altho the hospice and the adjoining +hostelry for the travelers are cheerless in the extreme, there is always +a warm welcome from the monks. No one, however poor, is refused bed +and board for the night, and there is no "distinction of persons." +The hospitality is extended to all, free of charge, this being the +invariable rule of the institution, but it is expected, and rightly so, +that those who can do so will deposit a liberal offering in the box +provided for the purpose. The small receipts, however, show what a great +abuse there is of this hospitality, for a large number of those who come +in the summer could well afford to give and to give largely. + +We hear much of the courage and perseverance of Hannibal and Csar in +leading their armies over the Alps! We see pictures of Napoleon and his +soldiers as they toiled up the pass, dragging along their frozen guns, +and perhaps falling into a fatal sleep about their dying camp fires at +night! And we rightly admire such bravery, and thrill with admiration at +the tale. Yet those armies which crossed the Alps failed to equal the +heroic self-sacrifice of those soldiers of the cross, the Monks of the +Grand St. Bernard, who remain for years at their post, unknown and +unsung by the wide, wide world, simply to save and shelter the humble +travelers who come to grief in their winter journey across the pass, in +search of work. + + +AVALANCHES[60] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +Beside this dazzling, magnificent snow, covering the chain of lofty +peaks like an immaculate altar cloth, what a gloomy, dull look there +is in the snow of the plains! One might think it was made of sugar or +confectionery, that it was false like all the rest. + +To know what snow really is--to get quit of this feeling of artificial +snow that we have when we see the stunted shrubs in our Parisian gardens +wrapt, as it were, in silk paper like bits of Christmas trees--it must +be seen here in these far-off, high valleys of the Engandine, that lie +for eight months dead under their shroud of snow, and often, even in the +height of summer, have to shiver anew under some wintry flakes. + +It is here that snow is truly beautiful! It shines in the sun with a +dazzling whiteness; it sparkles with a thousand fires like diamond dust; +it shows gleams like the plumage of a white dove, and it is as firm +under the foot as a marble pavement. It is so fine-grained, so compact, +that it clings like dust to every crevice and bend, to every projecting +edge and point, and follows every outline of the mountain, the form of +which it leaves as clearly defined as if it were a covering of thin +gauze. It sports in the most charming decorations, carves alabaster +facings and cornices on the cliffs, wreathes them in delicate lace, +covers them with vast canopies of white satin spangled with stars and +fringed with silver. + +And yet this dry, hard snow is extremely susceptible to the slightest +shock, and may be set in motion by a very trifling disturbance of the +air. The flight of a bird, the cracking of a whip, the tinkling of +bells, even the conversation of persons going along sometimes suffices +to shake and loosen it from the vertical face of the cliffs to which it +is clinging; and it runs down like grains of sand, growing as it falls, +by drawing down with it other beds of snow. It is like a torrent, a +snowy waterfall, bursting out suddenly from the side of the mountain; +it rushes down with a terrible noise, swollen with the snows that it +carries down in its furious course; it breaks against the rocks, divides +and joins again like an overflowing stream, and with a wild tempest +blast resumes its desolating course, filling the echoes with the +deafening thunder of battle. + +You think for a moment that a storm has begun, but looking at the sky +you see it serenely blue, smiling, cloudless. The rush becomes more and +more violent; it comes nearer, the ground trembles, the trees bend and +break with a sharp crack; enormous stones and blocks of ice are carried +away like gravel; and the mighty avalanche, with a crash like a train +running off the rails over a precipice, drops to the foot of the +mountain, destroying, crushing down everything before it, and covering +the ground with a bed of snow from thirty to fifty feet deep. + +When a stream of water wears a passage for itself under this compact +mass, it is sometimes hollowed out into an arched way, and the snow +becomes so solid that carriages and horses can go through without +danger, even in the middle of summer. But often the water does not find +a course by which to flow away; and then, when the snow begins to melt, +the water seeps into the fissures, loosens the mass that chokes up the +valley, and carries it down, rending its banks as it goes, carrying away +bridges, mills, and trees, and overthrowing houses. The avalanche has +become an inundation. + +The mountaineers make a distinction between summer and winter +avalanches. The former are solid avalanches, formed of old snow that +has almost acquired the consistency of ice. The warm breath of spring +softens it, loosens it from the rocks on which it hangs, and it slides +down into the valleys. These are called "melting avalanches." They +regularly follow certain tracks, and these are embanked, like the course +of a river, with wood or bundles of branches. It is in order to protect +the alpine roads from these avalanches that those long open galleries +have been built on the face of the precipice. + +The most dreaded and most terrible avalanches, those of dry, powdery +snow, occur only in winter, when sudden squalls and hurricanes of +snow throw the whole atmosphere into chaos. They come down in sudden +whirlwinds, with the violence of a waterspout, and in a few minutes +whole villages are buried.... + +Here, in the Grisons, the whole village of Selva was buried under an +avalanche. Nothing remained visible but the top of the church steeple, +looking like a pole planted in the snow. Baron Munchausen might have +tied his horse there without inventing any lie about it. The Val +Verzasca was covered for several months by an avalanche of nearly 1,000 +feet in length and 50 in depth. All communication through the valley +was stopt; it was impossible to organize help; and the alarm-bell was +incessantly sounding over the immense white desolation like a knell for +the dead. + +In the narrow defile in which we now are, there are many remains of +avalanches that neither the water of the torrent nor the heat of the sun +has had power to melt. The bed of the river is strewn with displaced and +broken rocks, and great stones bound together by the snow as if with +cement; the surges dash against these rocky obstacles, foaming angrily, +with the blind fury of a wild beast. And the moan of the powerless water +flows on into the depth of the valley, and is lost far off in a hollow +murmur. + + +HUNTING THE CHAMOIS[61] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +Schmidt swept with his cap the snow which covered the stones on which +we were to seat ourselves for breakfast, then unpacked the provisions; +slices of veal and ham, hard-boiled eggs, wine of the Valtelline. His +knapsack, covered with a napkin, served for our table. While we sat, we +devoured the landscape, the twelve glaciers spreading around us their +carpet of swansdown and ermine, sinking into crevasses of a magical +transparency, and raising their blocks, shaped into needles, or into +Gothic steeples with pierced arches. The architecture of the glacier is +marvelous. Its decorations are the decorations of fairyland. Quite near +us marks of animals in the snow attracted our attention. Schmidt said to +us: + +"Chamois have been here this morning; the traces are quite fresh. They +must have seen us and made off; the chamois are as distrustful, you see, +as the marmots, and as wary. At this season they keep on the glaciers by +preference. They live on so little! A few herbs, a few mosses, such as +grow on isolated rocks like this. I assure you it is very amusing to see +a herd of twenty or thirty chamois cross at a headlong pace a vast field +of snow, or glacier, where they bound over the crevasses in play. + +"One would say they were reindeers in a Lapland scene. It is only at +night that they come down into the valleys. In the moonlight they come +out of the moraines, and go to pasture on the grassy slopes or in the +forest adjoining the glaciers. During the day they go up again into the +snow, for which they have an extraordinary love, and in which they skip +and play, amusing themselves like a band of scholars in play hours. +They tease one another, butt with their horns in fun, run off, +return, pretend new attacks and new flights with charming agility and +frolicsomeness. + +"While the young ones give themselves up to their sports, an old female, +posted as sentinel at some yards distance, watches the valley and scents +the air. At the slightest indication of danger, she utters a sharp cry; +the games cease instantly, and the whole anxious troop assembles round +the guardian, then the whole herd sets off at a gallop and disappears in +the twinkling of an eye.... + +"Hunting on the nvs and the glaciers is very dangerous. When the snow +is fresh it is with difficulty one can advance. The hunters use wooden +snowshoes, like those of the Esquimaux. + +"One of my comrades, in hunting on the Roseg, disappeared in the bottom +of a crevasse. It was over thirty feet deep. Imagine two perfectly +smooth sides; two walls of crystal. To reascend was impossible. It was +certain death, either from cold or hunger; for it was known that when he +went chamois-hunting he was often absent for several days. He could not +therefore count on help being sent; he must resign himself to death. + +"One thing, however, astonished him; it was to find so little water in +the bottom of the crevasse. Could there be then an opening at the bottom +of the funnel into which he had fallen? He stooped, examined this grave +in which he had been buried alive, discovered that the heat of the sun +had caused the base of the glacier to melt. A canal drainage had been +formed. Laying himself flat, he slid into this dark passage, and after +a thousand efforts he arrived at the end of the glacier in the moraine, +safe and sound." + +We had finished breakfast. We wanted something warm, a little coffee. +Schmidt set up our spirit-lamp behind two great stones that protected it +from the wind. And while we waited for the water to boil, he related to +us the story of Colani, the legendary hunter of the upper Engandine. + +"Colani, in forty years, killed two thousand seven hundred chamois. This +strange man had carved out for himself a little kingdom in the mountain. +He claimed to reign there alone, to be absolute master. When a stranger +penetrated into his residence, within the domain of 'his reserved +hunting-ground,' as he called the regions of the Bernina, he treated him +as a poacher, and chased him with a gun.... + +"Colani was feared and dreaded as a diabolical and supernatural +being; and indeed he took no pains to undeceive the public, for the +superstitious terrors inspired by his person served to keep away all the +chamois-hunters from his chamois, which he cared for and managed as a +great lord cares for the deer in his forests. Round the little house +which he had built for himself on the Col de Bernina, and where he +passed the summer and autumn, two hundred chamois, almost tame, might be +seen wandering about and browsing. Every year he killed about fifty old +males." + + +THE CELEBRITIES OF GENEVA[62] + +BY FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE + +It has been remarked as curious that the Age of Revolution at Geneva +was also the Golden Age--if not of Genevan literature, which has never +really had any Golden Age, at least of Genevan science, which was of +world-wide renown. + +The period is one in which notable names meet us at every turn. There +were exiled Genevans, like de Lolme, holding their own in foreign +political and intellectual circles; there were emigrant Genevan pastors +holding aloft the lamps of culture and piety in many cities of England, +France, Russia, Germany, and Denmark; there were Genevans, like Franois +Lefort, holding the highest offices in the service of foreign rulers; +and there were numbers of Genevans at Geneva of whom the cultivated +grand tourist wrote in the tone of a disciple writing of his master. One +can not glance at the history of the period without lighting upon names +of note in almost all departments of endeavor. The period is that of +de Saussure, Bourrit, the de Lucs, the two Hubers, great authorities +respectively on bees and birds; Le Sage, who was one of Gibbon's rivals +for the heart of Mademoiselle Suzanne Curchod; Senebier, the librarian +who wrote the first literary history of Geneva; St. Ours and Arlaud, +the painters; Charles Bonnet, the entomologist; Brenger and Picot, +the historians; Tronchin, the physician; Trembley and Jallabert, the +mathematicians; Dentan, minister and Alpine explorer; Pictet, the editor +of the "Bibliothque Universelle," still the leading Swiss literary +review; and Odier, who taught Geneva the virtue of vaccination. + +It is obviously impossible to dwell at length upon the careers of all +these eminent men. As well might one attempt, in a survey on the same +scale of English literature, to discuss in detail the careers of all the +celebrities of the age of Anne. One can do little more than remark that +the list is marvelously strong for a town of some 30,000 inhabitants, +and that many of the names included in it are not only eminent, but +interesting. Jean Andr de Luc, for example, has a double claim upon our +attention as the inventor of the hygrometer and as the pioneer of the +snow-peaks. He climbed the Buet as early as 1770, and wrote an account +of his adventures on its summit and its slopes which has the true charm +of Arcadian simplicity. He came to England, was appointed reader to +Queen Charlotte, and lived in the enjoyment of that office, and in the +gratifying knowledge that Her Majesty kept his presentation hygrometer +in her private apartments, to the venerable age of ninety. + +Bourrit is another interesting character--being, in fact, the spiritual +ancestor of the modern Alpine Clubman. By profession he was Precentor +of the Cathedral; but his heart was in the mountains. In the summer he +climbed them, and in the winter he wrote books about them. One of +his books was translated into English; and the list of subscribers, +published with the translation, shows that the public which Bourrit +addrest included Edmund Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Bartolozzi, Fanny +Burney, Angelica Kauffman, David Garrick, Sir Joshua Reynolds, George +Augustus Selwyn, Jonas Hanway and Dr. Johnson. His writings earned him +the honorable title of Historian (or Historiographer) of the Alps. Men +of science wrote him letters; princes engaged upon the grand tour called +to see him; princesses sent him presents as tokens of their admiration +and regard for the man who had taught them how the contemplation of +mountain scenery might exalt the sentiments of the human mind. + +Tronchin, too, is interesting; he was the first physician who recognized +the therapeutic use of fresh air and exercise, hygienic boots, and +open windows. So is Charle Bonnet, who was not afraid to stand up +for orthodoxy against Voltaire; so is Mallet, who traveled as far as +Lapland; and so is that man of whom his contemporaries always spoke, +with the reverence of hero-worshipers, as "the illustrious de +Saussure."... + +The name of which the Genevans are proudest is probably that of +Rousseau, who has sometimes been spoken of as "the austere citizen of +Geneva." But "austere" is a strange epithet to apply to the philosopher +who endowed the Foundling Hospital with five illegitimate children; and +Geneva can not claim a great share in a citizen who ran away from the +town of his boyhood to avoid being thrashed for stealing apples. It +was, indeed, at Geneva that Jean Jacques received from his aunt the +disciplinary chastisement of which he gives such an exciting account in +his "Confessions"; and he once returned to the city and received the +Holy Communion there in later life. But that is all. Jean Jacques was +not educated at Geneva, but in Savoy--at Annecy, at Turin, and at +Chambry; his books were not printed at Geneva, tho' one of them was +publicly burned there, but in Paris and Amsterdam; it is not to Genevan +but to French literature that he belongs. + +We must visit Voltaire at Ferney, and Madame de Stal at Coppet. Let the +patriarch come first. Voltaire was sixty years of age when he settled +on the shores of the lake, where he was to remain for another +four-and-twenty years; and he did not go there for his pleasure. He +would have preferred to live in Paris, but was afraid of being locked +up in the Bastille. As the great majority of the men of letters of +the reign of Louis XV. were, at one time or another, locked up in the +Bastille, his fears were probably well founded. + +Moreover, notes of warning had reached his ears. "I dare not ask you to +dine," a relative said to him, "because you are in bad odor at Court." +So he betook himself to Geneva, as so many Frenchmen, illustrious +and otherwise, had done before, and acquired various properties--at +Prangins, at Lausanne, at Saint-Jean (near Geneva), at Ferney, at +Tournay, and elsewhere. + +He was welcomed cordially. Dr. Tronchin, the eminent physician, +cooperated in the legal fictions necessary to enable him to become a +landowner in the republic. Cramer, the publisher, made a proposal for +the issue of a complete and authorized edition of his works. All the +best people called. "It is very pleasant," he was able to write, "to +live in a country where rulers borrow your carriage to come to dinner +with you." + +Voltaire corresponded regularly with at least four reigning sovereigns, +to say nothing of men of letters, Cardinals, and Marshals of France; +and he kept open house for travelers of mark from every country in the +world. Those of the travelers who wrote books never failed to devote a +chapter to an account of a visit to Ferney; and from the mass of such +descriptions we may select for quotation that written, in the stately +style of the period, by Dr. John Moore, author of "Zeluco," then making +the grand tour as tutor to the Duke of Hamilton. + +"The most piercing eyes I ever beheld," the doctor writes, "are those of +Voltaire, now in his eightieth year. His whole countenance is expressive +of genius, observation, and extreme sensibility. In the morning he has a +look of anxiety and discontent; but this gradually wears off, and after +dinner he seems cheerful; yet an air of irony never entirely forsakes +his face, but may always be observed lurking in his features whether he +frowns or smiles. Composition is his principal amusement. No author who +writes for daily bread, no young poet ardent for distinction, is more +assiduous with his pen, or more anxious for fresh fame, than the wealthy +and applauded Seigneur of Ferney. He lives in a very hospitable manner, +and takes care always to have a good cook. He generally has two or three +visitors from Paris, who stay with him a month or six weeks at a time. +When they go, their places are soon supplied, so that there is a +constant rotation of society at Ferney. These, with Voltaire's own +family and his visitors from Geneva, compose a company of twelve or +fourteen people, who dine daily at his table, whether he appears or not. +All who bring recommendations from his friends may depend upon being +received, if he be not really indisposed. He often presents himself to +the strangers who assemble every afternoon in his ante-chamber, altho +they bring no particular recommendation." + +It might have been added that when an interesting stranger who carried +no introduction was passing through the town, Voltaire sometimes sent +for him; but this experiment was not always a success, and failed most +ludicrously in the case of Claude Gay, the Philadelphian Quaker, author +of some theological works now forgotten, but then of note. The meeting +was only arranged with difficulty on the philosopher's undertaking to +put a bridle on his tongue, and say nothing flippant about holy things. +He tried to keep his promise, but the temptation was too strong for him. +After a while he entangled his guest in a controversy concerning the +proceedings of the patriarchs and the evidences of Christianity, and +lost his temper on finding that his sarcasms failed to make their usual +impression. The member of the Society of Friends, however, was not +disconcerted. He rose from his place at the dinner-table, and replied: +"Friend Voltaire! perhaps thou mayst come to understand these matters +rightly; in the meantime, finding I can do thee no good, I leave thee, +and so fare thee well." + +And so saying, he walked out and walked back to Geneva, while Voltaire +retired in dudgeon to his room, and the company sat expecting something +terrible to happen. + +A word, in conclusion, about Coppet! + +Necker[63] bought the property from his old banking partner, Thelusson, +for 500,000 livres in French money, and retired to live there when the +French Revolution drove him out of politics. His daughter, Madame de +Stal, inherited it from him, and made it famous. + +Not that she loved Switzerland; it would be more true to say that she +detested Switzerland. Swiss scenery meant nothing to her. When she was +taken for an excursion to the glaciers, she asked what the crime was +that she had to expiate by such a punishment; and she could look out on +the blue waters of Lake Leman, and sigh for "the gutter of the Rue du +Bac." Even to this day, the Swiss have hardly forgiven her for that, or +for speaking of the Canton of Vaud as the country in which she had been +"so intensely bored for such a number of years." + +What she wanted was to live in Paris, to be a leader--or, rather, to be +"the" leader--of Parisian society, to sit in a salon, the admired of +all admirers, and to pull the wires of politics to the advantage of +her friends. For a while she succeeded in doing this. It was she who +persuaded Barras to give Talleyrand his political start in life. But +whereas Barras was willing to act on her advice, Napoleon was by no +means equally amenable to her influence. Almost from the first he +regarded her as a mischief-maker; and when a spy brought him an +intercepted letter in which Madame de Stal exprest her hope that none +of the old aristocracy of France would condescend to accept appointments +in the household of "the bourgeois of Corsica," he became her personal +enemy, and, refusing her permission to live either in the capital or +near it, practically compelled her to take refuge in her country seat. +Her pleasance in that way became her gilded cage. + +Perhaps she was not quite so unhappy there as she sometimes represented. +If she could not go to Paris, many distinguished and brilliant Parisians +came to Coppet, and met there many brilliant and distinguished Germans, +Genevans, Italians, and Danes. The Parisian salon, reconstituted, +flourished on Swiss soil. There visited there, at one time or another, +Madame Rcamier and Madame Krdner; Benjamin Constant, who was so +long Madame de Stal's lover; Bonstetten, the Voltairean philosopher; +Frederika Brun, the Danish artist; Sismondi, the historian; Werner, the +German poet; Karl Ritter, the German geographer; Baron de Voght; Monti, +the Italian poet: Madame Vige Le Brun; Cuvier; and Oelenschlaeger. From +almost every one of them we have some pen-and-ink sketch of the life +there. This, for instance, is the scene as it appeared to Madame Le +Brun, who came to paint the hostess's portrait: + +"I paint her in antique costume. She is not beautiful, but the animation +of her visage takes the place of beauty. To aid the expression I wished +to give her, I entreated her to recite tragic verses while I painted. +She declaimed passages from Corneille and Racine. I find many persons +established at Coppet: the beautiful Madame Rcamier, the Comte de +Sabran, a young English woman, Benjamin Constant, etc. Its society is +continually renewed. They come to visit the illustrious exile who is +pursued by the rancor of the Emperor. Her two sons are now with her, +under the instruction of the German scholar Schlegel; her daughter is +very beautiful, and has a passionate love of study; she leaves her +company free all the morning, but they unite in the evening. It is only +after dinner that they can converse with her. She then walks in her +salon, holding in her hand a little green branch; and her words have an +ardor quite peculiar to her; it is impossible to interrupt her. At these +times she produces on one the effect of an improvisation." + +And here is a still more graphic description, taken from a letter +written to Madame Rcamier by Baron de Voght: + +"It is to you that I owe my most amiable reception at Coppet. It is no +doubt to the favorable expectations aroused by your friendship that I +owe my intimate acquaintance with this remarkable woman. I might have +met her without your assistance--some casual acquaintance would no doubt +have introduced me--but I should never have penetrated to the intimacy +of this sublime and beautiful soul, and should never have known how much +better she is than her reputation. She is an angel sent from heaven to +reveal the divine goodness upon earth. To make her irresistible, a pure +ray of celestial light embellishes her spirit and makes her amiable from +every point of view. + +"At once profound and light, whether she is discovering a mysterious +secret of the soul or grasping the lightest shadow of a sentiment, +her genius shines without dazzling, and when the orb of light has +disappeared, it leaves a pleasant twilight to follow it.... No doubt +a few faults, a few weaknesses, occasionally veil this celestial +apparition; even the initiated must sometimes be troubled by these +eclipses, which the Genevan astronomers in vain endeavor to predict. + +"My travels so far have been limited to journeys to Lausanne and +Coppet, where I often stay three or four days. The life there suits me +perfectly; the company is even more to my taste. I like Constant's +wit, Schlegel's learning, Sabran's amiability, Sismondi's talent and +character, the simple truthful disposition and just intellectual +perceptions of Auguste,[64] the wit and sweetness of Albertine[65]--I +was forgetting Bonstetten, an excellent fellow, full of knowledge of +all sorts, ready in wit, adaptable in character--in every way inspiring +one's respect and confidence. + +"Your sublime friend looks and gives life to everything. She imparts +intelligence to those around her. In every corner of the house some +one is engaged in composing a great work.... Corinne is writing her +delightful letters about Germany, which will, no doubt, prove to be the +best thing she has ever done. + +"The 'Shunamitish Widow,' an Oriental melodrama which she has just +finished, will be played in October; it is charming. Coppet will be +flooded with tears. Constant and Auguste are both composing tragedies; +Sabran is writing a comic opera, and Sismondi a history; Schlegel is +translating something; Bonstetten is busy with philosophy, and I am busy +with my letter to Juliette." + +Then, a month later: + +"Since my last letter, Madame de Stal has read us several chapters of +her work. Everywhere it bears the marks of her talent. I wish I could +persuade her to cut out everything in it connected with politics, and +all the metaphors which interfere with its clarity, simplicity, and +accuracy. What she needs to demonstrate is not her republicanism, but +her wisdom. Mlle. Jenner played in one of Werner's tragedies which was +given, last Friday, before an audience of twenty. She, Werner, and +Schlegel played perfectly.... + +"The arrival in Switzerland of M. Cuvier has been a happy distraction +for Madame de Stal; they spent two days together at Geneva, and +were well pleased with each other. On her return to Coppet she found +Middleton there, and in receiving his confidences forgot her troubles. +Yesterday she resumed her work. + +"The poet whose mystical and somber genius has caused us such profound +emotions starts, in a few days' time, for Italy. + +"I accompanied Corinne to Massot's. To alleviate the tedium of the +sitting, a Mlle. Romilly played pleasantly on the harp, and the studio +was a veritable temple of the Muses.... + +"Bonstetten gave us two readings of a Memoir on the Northern Alps. It +began very well, but afterward it bored us. Madame de Stal resumed her +reading, and there was no longer any question of being bored. It is +marvelous how much she must have read and thought over to be able to +find the opportunity of saying so many good things. One may differ from +her, but one can not help delighting in her talent.... + +"And now here we are at Geneva, trying to reproduce Coppet at the Htel +des Balances. I am delightfully situated with a wide view over the +Valley of Savoy, between the Alps and the Jura. + +"Yesterday evening the illusion of Coppet was complete. I had been with +Madame de Stal to call on Madame Rilliet, who is so charming at her own +fireside. On my return I played chess with Sismondi. Madame de Stal, +Mlle. Randall, and Mlle. Jenner sat on the sofa chatting with Bonstetten +and young Barante. We were as we had always been--as we were in the days +that I shall never cease regretting." + +Other descriptions exist in great abundance, but these suffice to +serve our purpose. They show us the Coppet salon as it was pleasant, +brilliant, unconventional; something like Holland House, but more +Bohemian; something like Harley Street, but more select; something like +Gad's Hill--which it resembled in the fact that the members of the +house-parties were expected to spend their mornings at their desks--but +on a higher social plane; a center at once of high thinking and +frivolous behavior; of hard work and desperate love-making, which +sometimes paved the way to trouble. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 2: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 3: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 4: The modern Marseilles.] + +[Footnote 5: An ancient Italian town on the Adriatic, founded by +Syracusans about 300 B.C. and still an important seaport.] + +[Footnote 6: The city in Provence where have survived a beautiful Roman +arch and a stupendous Roman theater in which classical plays are still +given each year by actors from the Theatre Franais.] + +[Footnote 7: Diocletian.] + +[Footnote 8: A reference to the exquisite Maison Carre of Nmes.] + +[Footnote 9: That is, of Venice.] + +[Footnote 10: The famous general of the Emperor Justinian, reputed to +have become blind and been neglected in his old age.] + +[Footnote 11: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 12: From "Through Savage Europe." Published by J.B. Lippincott +Co.] + +[Footnote 13: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 14: That is, lands where the Greek Church prevails.] + +[Footnote 15: John Mason Neale, author of "An Introduction to the +History of the Holy Eastern Church."] + +[Footnote 16: Montenegro.] + +[Footnote 17: From "A Girl in the Karpathians." After publishing this +book. Miss Dowie became the wife of Henry Norman, the author and +traveler.] + +[Footnote 18: One of Poland's greatest poets.] + +[Footnote 19: From "Views Afoot." Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.] + +[Footnote 20: The population now (1914) is 24,000.] + +[Footnote 21: From "Six Months in Italy." Published by Houghton, Mifflin +Co.] + +[Footnote 22: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque +Tour," published in 1821.] + +[Footnote 23: From "Letters of a Traveller." The Tyrol and the Dolomites +being mainly Austrian territory, are here included under "Other Austrian +Scenes." Resorts in the Swiss Alps, including Chamouni (which, however, +is in France), will be found further on in this volume.] + +[Footnote 24: An Italian poet (1749-1838), who, banished from Venice, +settled in New York and became Professor of Italian at Columbia +College.] + +[Footnote 25: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 26: In the village of Cadore--hence the name, Titian da +Cadore.] + +[Footnote 27: From "Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: A +Midsummer Ramble in the Dolomites." Published by E.P. Dutton & Co.] + +[Footnote 28: Reaumur.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 29: From "My Alpine Jubilee." Published In 1908.] + +[Footnote 30: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs Company, Philadelphia.] + +[Footnote 31: Since the above was written, the railway has been extended +up the Jungfrau itself.] + +[Footnote 32: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 33: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 34: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 35: The population in 1902 had risen to 152,000.] + +[Footnote 36: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 37: From "The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley." Politically, +Chamouni is in France, but the aim here has been to bring into one +volume all the more popular Alpine resorts. Articles on the Tyrol and +the Dolomites will also be found in this volume--under "Other Austrian +Scenes."] + +[Footnote 38: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 39: For Mr. Whymper's own account of this famous ascent, see +page 127 of this volume.] + +[Footnote 40: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 41: From "Geneva."] + +[Footnote 42: From "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands."] + +[Footnote 43: Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had been published about +a year when this remark was made to her.] + + +[Footnote 44: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 45: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 46: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's later +achievements in the Alps are now integral parts of the written history +of notable mountain climbing feats the world over.] + +[Footnote 47: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's ascent +of the Matterhorn was made in 1865. It was the first ascent ever made so +far as known. Whymper died at Chamouni in 1911.] + +[Footnote 48: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." The loss of Douglas and +three other men, as here described, occurred during the descent of +the Matterhorn following the ascent described by Mr. Whymper in the +preceding article.] + +[Footnote 49: That is, down in the village of Zermatt. Seiler was a +well-known innkeeper of that time. Other Seilers still keep inns at +Zermatt.] + +[Footnote 50: The body of Douglas has never been recovered. It is +believed to lie buried deep in some crevasse in one of the great +glaciers that emerge from the base of the Matterhorn.] + +[Footnote 51: From "The Glaciers of the Alps." Prof. Tyndall made this +ascent in 1858. Monte Rosa stands quite near the Matterhorn. Each is +reached from Zermatt by the Gorner-Grat.] + +[Footnote 52: Another name for the Matterhorn.] + +[Footnote 53: My staff was always the handle of an ax an inch or two +longer than an ordinary walking-stick.--Author's note.] + + +[Footnote 54: From "The Glaciers of the Alps."] + +[Footnote 55: That is, after having ascended the mountain to a point +some distance beyond the Mer de Glace, to which the party had ascended +from Chamouni, Huxley and Tyndall were both engaged in a study of the +causes of the movement of glaciers, but Tyndall gave it most attention. +One of Tyndall's feats in the Alps was to make the first recorded ascent +of the Weisshorn. It is said that "traces of his influence remain in +Switzerland to this day."] + +[Footnote 56: A hotel overlooking the Mer de Glace and a headquarters +for mountaineers now as then.] + +[Footnote 57: Those acquainted with the mountain will at once recognize +the grave error here committed. In fact, on starting from the Grands +Mulets we had crossed the glacier too far, and throughout were much too +close to the Dme du Got.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 58: From "The Playground of Europe." Published by Longmans, +Green & Co.] + +[Footnote 59: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by the George W. +Jacob Co.] + +[Footnote 60: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 61: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 62: From "Geneva."] + +[Footnote 63: The French financier and minister of Louis XVI., father of +Madame de Stal.] + +[Footnote 64: Madame de Stal's son, who afterward edited the works of +Madame de Stal and Madame Necker.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 65: Madame de Stal's daughter, afterward Duchesse de +Broglie.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, +Volume VI, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEEING EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 11179-8.txt or 11179-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/7/11179/ + +Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, Volume VI + +Author: Various + +Release Date: February 20, 2004 [EBook #11179] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEEING EUROPE *** + + + + +Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +SEEING EUROPE WITH FAMOUS AUTHORS + +EDITED BY FRANCIS W. HALSEY + + + +CONTENTS OF VOLUME VI + +Germany, Austria-Hungary and Switzerland + +Part Two + + +VI. HUNGARY--(_Continued_) + +HUNGARIAN BATHS AND RESORTS--By H. Tornai de Koever + +THE GIPSIES--By H. Tornai de Koever + + +VII. AUSTRIA'S ADRIATIC PORTS + +TRIESTE AND POLA--By Edward A. Freeman + +SPALATO--By Edward A. Freeman + +RAGUSA--By Harry De Windt + +CATTARO--By Edward A. Freeman + + +VIII. OTHER AUSTRIAN SCENES + +CRACOW--By Menie Muriel Dowie + +ON THE ROAD TO PRAGUE--By Bayard Taylor + +THE CAVE OF ADELSBERG--By George Stillman Hillard + +THE MONASTERY OF MOeLK--By Thomas Frognall Dibdin + +THROUGH THE TYROL--By William Cullen Bryant + +IN THE DOLOMITES--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +CORTINA--By Amelia B. Edwards + + +IX. ALPINE RESORTS + +THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS--By Frederick Harrison + +INTERLAKEN AND THE JUNGFRAU--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +THE ALTDORF OF WILLIAM TELL--By W.D. M'Crackan + +LUCERNE--By Victor Tissot + +ZURICH--By W.D. M'Crackan + +THE RIGI--By W.D. M'Crackan + +CHAMOUNI--AN AVALANCHE--By Percy Bysshe Shelley + +ZERMATT--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +PONTRESINA AND ST. MORITZ--By Victor Tissot + +GENEVA--By Francis H. Gribble + +THE CASTLE OF CHILLON--By Harriet Beecher Stowe + +BY RAIL UP THE GORNER-GRAT--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +THROUGH THE ST. GOTHARD INTO ITALY--By Victor Tissot + + +X. ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING + +FIRST ATTEMPTS HALF A CENTURY AGO--By Edward Whymper + +FIRST TO THE TOP O THE MATTERHORN--By Edward Whymper + +THE LORD FRANCIS DOUGLAS TRAGEDY--By Edward Whymper + +AN ASCENT OF MONTE ROSA (1858)--By John Tyndall + +MONT BLANC ASCENDED, HUXLEY GOING PART WAY--By John Tyndall + +THE JUNGFRAU-JOCH--By Sir Leslie Stephen + + +XI. OTHER ALPINE TOPICS + +THE GREAT ST. BERNARD HOSPICE--By Archibald Campbell Knowles + +AVALANCHES--By Victor Tissot + +HUNTING THE CHAMOIS--By Victor Tissot + +THE CELEBRITIES OF GENEVA--By Francis H. Gribble + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +VOLUME VI + + Frontispiece + THE MATTERHORN + + KURSAAL AT MARIENBAD + + MARIENBAD, AUSTRIA + + MONASTERY OF ST. ULRIC AND AFRA, AUGSBURG + + MONASTERY OF MOeLK ON THE DANUBE ABOVE VIENNA + + MEMORIAL TABLET AND ROAD IN THE IRON GATE OF THE DANUBE + + QUAY AT FIUME + + ROYAL PALACE IN BUDAPEST + + HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT, BUDAPEST + + SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE AT BUDAPEST + + STREET IN BUDAPEST + + CATHEDRAL OF SPALATO + + REGUSA, DALMATIA + + MIRAMAR + + GENEVA + + REGATTA DAY ON LAKE GENEVA + + VITZNAU, THE LAKE TERMINUS OF THE RIGI RAILROAD + + RHINE FALLS NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN + + PONTRESINA IN THE ENGADINE + + ST. MORITZ IN THE ENGADINE + + FRIBOURG + + BERNE + + VIVEY, LAKE GENEVA + + THE TURNHALLE, ZURICH + + INTERLAKEN + + LUCERNE + + VIADUCTS ON AN ALPINE RAILWAY + + THE WOLFORT VIADUCT + + BALMAT--SAUSSURE MONUMENT IN CHAMONIX + + ROOFED WOODEN BRIDGE AT LUCERNE + + THE CASTLE OF CHILLON + + CLOUD EFFECT ABOVE INTERLAKEN + + DAVOS IN WINTER + + + [Illustration: THE KURSAL AT MARIENBAD] + + [Illustration: MARIENBAD, AUSTRIA] + + [Illustration: THE MONASTERY OF ST. ULRIC AND AFRA, AT AUGSBURG + IN BAVARIA] + + [Illustration: THE MONASTERY OF MOeLK ON THE DANUBE ABOVE VIENNA] + + [Illustration: MEMORIAL TABLET AND ROAD IN THE IRON GATE + OF THE DANUBE] + + [Illustration: THE QUAY OF THE FIUME AT THE HEAD OF THE ADRIATIC] + + [Illustration: THE ROYAL PALACE AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE SUSPENSION BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE AT BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: STREET IN BUDAPEST] + + [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL OF SPALATO + Burial-place of the Emperor Diocletian] + + [Illustration: REGUSA, DALMATIA] + + [Illustration: MIRAMAR + Long the home of the ex-Empress Carlotta of Mexico] + + [Illustration: GENEVA] + + [Illustration: REGATTA DAY ON LAKE GENEVA] + + [Illustration: VITZNAU, THE LAKE TERMINUS OF THE RIGI RAILROAD] + + [Illustration: THE RHINE FALLS NEAR SCHAFFHAUSEN] + + + +VI + + + +HUNGARY + +(_Continued_) + +HUNGARIAN BATHS AND RESORTS[1] + +BY H. TORNAI DE KOeVER + +In Hungary there are great quantities of unearthed riches, and not only +in the form of gold. These riches are the mineral waters that abound in +the country and have been the natural medicine of the people for many +years. Water in itself was always worshiped by the Hungarians in the +earliest ages, and they have found out through experience for which +ailment the different waters may be used. There are numbers of small +watering-places in the most primitive state, which are visited by the +peasants from far and wide, more especially those that are good for +rheumatism. + +Like all people that work much in the open, the Hungarian in old age +feels the aching of his limbs. The Carpathians are full of such baths, +some of them quite primitive; others are used more as summer resorts, +where the well-to-do town people build their villas; others, again, +like Tatra Fuered, Tatra Lomnicz, Csorba, and many others, have every +accommodation and are visited by people from all over Europe. In former +times Germans and Poles were the chief visitors, but now people come +from all parts to look at the wonderful ice-caves (where one can skate +in the hottest summer), the waterfalls, and the great pine forests, and +make walking, driving, and riding tours right up to the snow-capped +mountains, preferring the comparative quiet of this Alpine district to +that of Switzerland. Almost every place has some special mineral water, +and among the greatest wonders of Hungary are the hot mud-baths of +Poestyen. + +This place is situated at the foot of the lesser Carpathians, and is +easily reached from the main line of the railway. The scenery is lovely +and the air healthy, but this is nothing compared to the wondrous waters +and hot mire which oozes out of the earth in the vicinity of the river +Vag. Hot sulfuric water, which contains radium, bubbles up in all parts +of Poestyen, and even the bed of the cold river is full of steaming +hot mud. As far back as 1551 we know of the existence of Poestyen as a +natural cure, and Sir Spencer Wells, the great English doctor, wrote +about these waters in 1888. They are chiefly good for rheumatism, gout, +neuralgia, the strengthening of broken bones, strains, and also for +scrofula. + +On the premises there is a quaint museum with crutches and all sort of +sticks and invalid chairs left there by their former owners in grateful +acknowledgment of the wonderful waters and mire that had healed them. Of +late there has been much comfort added; great new baths have been built, +villas and new hotels added, so that there is accommodation for rich +and poor alike. The natural heat of the mire is 140 degrees Fahrenheit. +Plenty of amusements are supplied for those who are not great +sufferers--tennis, shooting, fishing, boating, and swimming being all +obtainable. The bathing-place and all the adjoining land belongs to +Count Erdoedy. + +Another place of the greatest importance is the little bath "Parad," +hardly three hours from Budapest, situated in the heart of the mountains +of the "Matra." It is the private property of Count Karolyi. The place +is primitive and has not even electric light. Its waters are a wonderful +combination of iron and alkaline, but this is not the most important +feature. Besides the baths there is a strong spring of arsenic water +which, through a fortunate combination, is stronger and more digestible +than Roncegno and all the other first-rate waters of that kind in the +world. + +Not only in northern Hungary does one find wondrous cures, it is the +same in Transylvania. There are healing and splendid mineral waters for +common use all over the country lying idle and awaiting the days when +its owners will be possest by the spirit of enterprise. Borszek, +Szovata, and many others are all wonders in their way, waters that would +bring in millions to their owners if only worked properly. Szovata, +boasts of a lake containing such an enormous proportion of salt that not +even the human body can sink into its depths. + +In the south there is Herkulesfuerdoe, renowned as much for the beauty of +its scenery as for its waters. Besides those mentioned there are all +the summer pleasure resorts; the best of these are situated along Lake +Balaton. The tepid water, long sandbanks, and splendid air from the +forests make them specially healthy for delicate children. But not only +have the bathing-places beautiful scenery from north to south and from +east to west, in general the country abounds in Alpine districts, +waterfalls, caves, and other wonders of nature. The most beautiful +tour is along the river Vag, starting from the most northerly point in +Hungary near the beautiful old stronghold of Arva in the county of Arva. + +All those that care to see a country as it really is, and do not mind +going out of the usual beaten track of the globe-trotter, should go down +the river Vag. It can not be done by steamer, or any other comfortable +contrivance, one must do it on a raft, as the rapids of the river are +not to be passed by any other means. The wood is transported in this +way from the mountain regions to the south, and for two days one passes +through the most beautiful scenery. Fantastic castles loom at the top of +mountain peaks, and to each castle is attached a page of the history of +the Middle Ages, when the great noblemen were also the greatest robbers +of the land, and the people were miserable serfs, who did all the work +and were taxed and robbed by their masters. Castles, wild mountain +districts, rugged passes, villages, and ruins are passed like a +beautiful panorama. The river rushes along, foaming and dashing over +sharp rocks. The people are reliable and very clever in handling the +raft, which requires great skill, especially when conducted over the +falls at low water. Sometimes there is only one little spot where the +raft can pass, and to conduct it over those rapids requires absolute +knowledge of every rock hidden under the shallow falls. If notice is +given in time, a rude hut will be built on the raft to give shelter +and make it possible to have meals cooked, altho in the simplest way +(consisting of baked potatoes and stew), by the Slavs who are in charge +of the raft. If anything better is wanted it must be ordered by stopping +at the larger towns; but to have it done in the simple way is entering +into the true spirit of the voyage. + + +THE GIPSIES[2] + +BY H. TORNAI DE KOeVER + +Gipsies! Music! Dancing! These are words of magic to the rich and poor, +noblemen and peasant alike, if he be a true Hungarian. There are two +kinds of gipsies. The wandering thief, who can not be made to take up +any occupation. These are a terribly lawless and immoral people, and +there seems to be no way of altering their life and habits, altho much +has been written on the subject to improve matters; but the Government +has shown itself to be helpless as yet. These people live here and +there, in fact everywhere, leading a wandering life in carts, and camp +wherever night overtakes them. After some special evil-doing they will +wander into Rumania or Russia and come back after some years when the +deed of crime has been forgotten. Their movements are so quick and +silent that they outwit the best detectives of the police force. They +speak the gipsy language, but often a half-dozen other languages +besides, in their peculiar chanting voice. Their only occupation is +stealing, drinking, smoking, and being a nuisance to the country in +every way. + +The other sort of gipsies consist of those that have squatted down in +the villages some hundreds of years ago. They live in a separate part of +the village, usually at the end, are dirty and untidy and even an unruly +people, but for the most part have taken up some honest occupation. +They make the rough, unbaked earth bricks that the peasant cottages are +mostly made of, are tinkers and blacksmiths, but they do the lowest kind +of work too. Besides these, however, there are the talented ones. The +musical gipsy begins to handle his fiddle as soon as he can toddle. +The Hungarians brought their love of music with them from Asia. Old +parchments have been found which denote that they had their songs and +war-chants at the time of the "home-making," and church and folk-songs +from their earliest Christian period. Peasant and nobleman are musical +alike--it runs in the race. The gipsies that have settled among them +caught up the love of music and are now the best interpreters of the +Hungarian songs. The people have got so used to their "blackies," as +they call them, that no lesser or greater fete day can pass without +the gipsy band having ample work to do in the form of playing for the +people. Their instruments are the fiddle, 'cello, viola, clarinet, +tarogato (a Hungarian specialty), and, above all, the cymbal. The +tarogato looks like a grand piano with the top off. It stands on four +legs like a table and has wires drawn across it; on these wires the +player performs with two little sticks, that are padded at the ends +with cotton-wool. The sound is wild and weird, but if well played very +beautiful indeed. The gipsies seldom compose music. The songs come into +life mostly on the spur of the moment. In the olden days war-songs and +long ballads were the most usual form of music. The seventeenth and +eighteenth centuries were specially rich in the production of songs that +live even now. At that time the greatest gipsy musician was a woman: her +name was "Czinka Panna," and she was called the Gipsy Queen. With the +change of times the songs are altered too, and now they are mostly +lyric. Csardas is the quick form of music, and tho' of different +melodies it must always be kept to the same rhythm. This is not much +sung to, but is the music for the national dance. The peasants play on +a little wooden flute which is called the "Tilinko," or "Furulya," and +they know hundreds of sad folk-songs and lively Csardas. While living +their isolated lives in the great plains they compose many a beautiful +song. + +It is generally from the peasants and the musical country gentry that +the gipsy gets his music. He learns the songs after a single hearing, +and plays them exactly according to the singer's wish. The Hungarian +noble when singing with the gipsies is capable of giving the dark-faced +boys every penny he has. In this manner many a young nobleman has been +ruined, and the gipsies make nothing of it, because they are just like +their masters and "spend easily earned money easily," as the saying +goes. Where there is much music there is much dancing. Every Sunday +afternoon after church the villages are lively with the sound of the +gipsy band, and the young peasant boys and girls dance. + +The Slovaks of the north play a kind of bagpipe, which reminds one of +the Scotch ones; but the songs of the Slovak have got very much mixed +with the Hungarian. The Rumanian music is of a distinct type, but the +dances all resemble the Csardas, with the difference that the quick +figures in the Slav and Rumanian dances are much more grotesque and +verging on acrobatism. + + + +VII + +AUSTRIA'S ADRIATIC PORTS + +TRIESTE AND POLA[3] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +Trieste stands forth as a rival of Venice, which has, in a low practical +view of things, outstript her. Italian zeal naturally cries for the +recovery of a great city, once part of the old Italian kingdom, and +whose speech is largely, perhaps chiefly, Italian to this day. But, a +cry of "Italia Irredenta," however far it may go, must not go so far +as this. Trieste, a cosmopolitan city on a Slavonic shore, can not be +called Italian in the same sense as the lands and towns so near Verona +which yearn to be as Verona is. Let Trieste be the rival, even the +eyesore, of Venice, still Southern Germany must have a mouth. + +We might, indeed, be better pleased to see Trieste a free city, the +southern fellow of Luebeck, Bremen and Hamburg; but it must not be +forgotten that the Archduke of Austria and Lord of Trieste reigns at +Trieste by a far better right than that by which he reigns at Cattaro +and Spizza. The present people of Trieste did not choose him, but the +people of Trieste five hundred years back did choose the forefather of +his great-grandmother. Compared with the grounds of which kingdoms, +duchies, counties, and lordships, are commonly held in that +neighborhood, such a claim as this must be allowed to be respectable +indeed. + +The great haven of Trieste may almost at pleasure be quoted as either +confirming or contradicting the rule that it is not in the great +commercial cities of Europe that we are to look for the choicest or the +most plentiful remains of antiquity. Sometimes the cities themselves +are of modern foundation; in other cases the cities themselves, as +habitations of men and seats of commerce, are of the hoariest antiquity, +but the remains of their early days have perished through their very +prosperity. Massalia,[4] with her long history, with her double wreath +of freedom, the city which withstood Caesar and which withstood Charles +of Anjou, is bare of monuments of her early days. She has been the +victim of her abiding good fortune. We can look down from the height on +the Phokaian harbor; but for actual memorials of the men who fled from +the Persian, of the men who defied the Roman and the Angevin, we might +look as well at Liverpool or at Havre. + +Genoa, Venice herself, are hardly real exceptions; they were indeed +commercial cities, but they were ruling cities also, and, as ruling +cities, they reared monuments which could hardly pass away. What are we +to say to the modern rival of Venice, the upstart rebel, one is tempted +to say, against the supremacy of the Hadriatic Queen? Trieste, at the +head of her gulf, with the hills looking down to her haven, with the +snowy mountains which seem to guard the approach from the other side of +her inland sea, with her harbor full of the ships of every nation, her +streets echoing with every tongue, is she to be reckoned as an example +of the rule or an exception to it? + +No city at first sight seems more thoroughly modern; old town and +new, wide streets and narrow, we search them in vain for any of those +vestiges of past times which in some cities meet us at every step. +Compare Trieste with Ancona;[5] we miss the arch of Trajan on the haven; +we miss the cupola of Saint Cyriacus soaring in triumph above the +triumphal monument of the heathen. We pass through the stately streets +of the newer town, we thread the steep ascents which lead us to the +older town above, and we nowhere light on any of those little scraps of +ornamental architecture, a window, a doorway, a column, which meet us at +every step in so many of the cities of Italy. + +Yet the monumental wealth of Trieste is all but equal to the monumental +wealth of Ancona. At Ancona we have the cathedral church and the +triumphal arch; so we have at Trieste; tho' at Trieste we have nothing +to set against the grand front of the lower and smaller church of +Ancona. But at Ancona arch and duomo both stand out before all eyes; +at Trieste both have to be looked for. The church of Saint Justus at +Trieste crowns the hill as well as the church of Saint Cyriacus at +Ancona; but it does not in the same way proclaim its presence. The +castle, with its ugly modern fortifications, rises again above the +church; and the duomo of Trieste, with its shapeless outline and its +low, heavy, unsightly campanile, does not catch the eyes like the Greek +cross and cupola of Ancona. + +Again at Trieste the arch could never, in its best days, have been a +rival to the arch at Ancona; and now either we have to hunt it out by an +effort, or else it comes upon us suddenly, standing, as it does, at the +head of a mean street on the ascent to the upper town. Of a truth it can +not compete with Ancona or with Rimini, with Orange[6] or with Aosta. +But the duomo, utterly unsightly as it is in a general view, puts on +quite a new character when we first see the remains of pagan times +imprisoned in the lower stage of the heavy campanile, still more so when +we take our first glance of its wonderful interior. At the first glimpse +we see that here there is a mystery to be unraveled; and as we gradually +find the clue to the marvelous changes which it has undergone, we +feel that outside show is not everything, and that, in point both +of antiquity and of interest, tho' not of actual beauty, the double +basilica of Trieste may claim no mean place among buildings of its own +type. Even after the glories of Rome and Ravenna, the Tergestine church +may be studied with no small pleasure and profit, as an example of a +kind of transformation of which neither Rome nor Ravenna can supply +another example.... + +The other ancient relic at Trieste is the small triumphal arch. On one +side it keeps its Corinthian pilasters; on the other they are imbedded +in a house. The arch is in a certain sense double; but the two are close +together, and touch in the keystone. The Roman date of this arch can not +be doubted; but legends connect it both with Charles the Great and with +Richard of Poitou and of England, a prince about whom Tergestine fancy +has been very busy. The popular name of the arch is Arco Riccardo. + +Such, beside some fragments in the museum, are all the remains that the +antiquary will find in Trieste; not much in point of number, but, in the +case of the duomo at least, of surpassing interest in their own way. But +the true merit of Trieste is not in anything that it has itself, its +church, its arch, its noble site. Placed there at the head of the gulf, +on the borders of two great portions of the Empire, it leads to the land +which produced that line of famous Illyrian Emperors who for a while +checked the advance of our own race in the world's history, and it leads +specially to the chosen home of the greatest among them.[7] The chief +glory of Trieste, after all, is that it is the way to Spalato.... + +At Pola the monuments of Pietas Julia claim the first place; the +basilica, tho' not without a certain special interest, comes long after +them. The character of the place is fixt by the first sight of it; we +see the present and we see the more distant past; the Austrian navy is +to be seen, and the amphitheater is to be seen. But intermediate times +have little to show; if the duomo strikes the eye at all, it strikes it +only by the extreme ugliness of its outside, nor is there anything very +taking, nothing like the picturesque castle of Pirano, in the works +which occupy the site of the colonial capitol. The duomo should not be +forgotten; even the church of Saint Francis is worth a glance; but it is +in the remains of the Roman colony, in the amphitheater, the arches, +the temples, the fragments preserved in that temple which serves, as +at Nimes,[8] for a museum, that the real antiquarian wealth of Pola +lies.... + +The known history of Pola begins with the Roman conquest of Istria +in 178 B.C. The town became a Roman colony and a flourishing seat of +commerce. Its action on the republican side in the civil war brought +on it the vengeance of the second Caesar. But the destroyer became +the restorer, and Pietas Julia, in the height of its greatness, far +surpassed the extent either of the elder or the younger Pola. Like all +cities of this region, Pola kept up its importance down to the days of +the Carlovingian Empire, the specially flourishing time of the whole +district being that of Gothic and Byzantine dominion at Ravenna. A +barbarian king, the Roxolan Rasparasanus, is said to have withdrawn to +Pola after the submission of his nation to Hadrian; and the panegyrists +of the Flavian house rank Pola along with Trier and Autun among the +cities which the princes of that house had adorned or strengthened. But +in the history of their dynasty the name of the city chiefly stands out +as the chosen place for the execution of princes whom it was convenient +to put out of the way. + +Here Crispus died at the bidding of Constantine, and Gallus at the +bidding of Constantius. Under Theodoric, Pola doubtless shared that +general prosperity of the Istrian land on which Cassiodorus grows +eloquent when writing to its inhabitants. In the next generation Pola +appears in somewhat of the same character which has come back to it in +our own times; it was there that Belisarius gathered the Imperial fleet +for his second and less prosperous expedition against the Gothic lords +of Italy. But, after the break up of the Frankish Empire, the history of +medieval Pola is but a history of decline. It was, in the geography of +Dante, the furthest city of Italy; but, like most of the other cities of +its own neighborhood, its day of greatness had passed away when Dante +sang. + +Tossed to and fro between the temporal and spiritual lords who claimed +to be marquesses of Istria, torn by the dissensions of aristocratic and +popular parties among its own citizens, Pola found rest, the rest of +bondage, in submission to the dominion of Saint Mark in 1331.[9] Since +then, till its new birth in our own times, Pola has been a failing city. +Like the other Istrian and Dalmatian towns, modern revolutions have +handed it over from Venice to Austria, from Austria to France, from +France to Austria again. It is under its newest masters that Pola has +at last begun to live a fresh life, and the haven whence Belisarius[10] +sailed forth has again become a haven in more than name, the cradle of +the rising navy of the united Austrian and Hungarian realm. + +That haven is indeed a noble one. Few sights are more striking than to +see the huge mass of the amphitheater at Pola seeming to rise at once +out of the land-locked sea. As Pola is seen now, the amphitheater is the +one monument of its older days, which strikes the eye in the general +view, and which divides attention with signs that show how heartily the +once forsaken city has entered on its new career. But in the old time +Pola could show all the buildings which befitted its rank as a colony +of Rome. The amphitheater, of course, stood without the walls; the city +itself stood at the foot and on the slope of the hill which was crowned +by the capitol of the colony, where the modern fortress rises above the +Franciscan church. Parts of the Roman wall still stand; one of its gates +is left; another has left a neighbor and a memory.... + +Travelers are sometimes apt to complain, and that not wholly without +reason, that all amphitheaters are very like one another. At Pola this +remark is less true than elsewhere, as the amphitheater there has +several marked peculiarities of its own. We do not pretend to expound +all its details scientifically; but this we may say, that those who +dispute--if the dispute still goes on--about various points as regards +the Coliseum at Rome will do well to go and look for some further light +in the amphitheater of Pola. The outer range, which is wonderfully +perfect, while the inner arrangements are fearfully ruined, consists, on +the side toward the town, of two rows of arches, with a third story with +square-headed openings above them. + +But the main peculiarity in the outside is to be found in four +tower-like projections, not, as at Arles and Nimes, signs of Saracenic +occupation, but clearly parts of the original design. Many conjectures +have been made about them; they look as if they were means of approach +to the upper part of the building; but it is wisest not to be positive. +But the main peculiarity of this amphitheater is that it lies on the +slope of a hill, which thus supplied a natural basement for the seats on +one side only. But this same position swallowed up the lower arcade on +this side, and it hindered the usual works underneath the seats from +being carried into this part of the building. + + +SPALATO[11] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +The main object and center of all historical and architectural inquiries +on the Dalmatian coast is, of course, the home of Diocletian, the still +abiding palace of Spalato. From a local point of view, it is the spot +which the greatest of the long line of renowned Illyrian Emperors chose +as his resting-place from the toils of warfare and government, and +where he reared the vastest and noblest dwelling that ever arose at the +bidding of a single man. From an ecumenical point of view, Spalato is +yet more. If it does not rank with Rome, Old and New, with Ravenna and +with Trier, it is because it never was, like them, an actual seat of +empire. But it not the less marks a stage, and one of the greatest +stages, in the history of the Empire. + +On his own Dalmatian soil, Docles of Salone, Diocletian of Rome, was the +man who had won fame for his own land, and who, on the throne of the +world, did not forget his provincial birthplace. In the sight of Rome +and of the world Jovius Augustus was more than this. Alike in the +history of politics and in the history of art, he has left his mark on +all time that has come after him, and it is on his own Spalato that +his mark has been most deeply stamped. The polity of Rome and the +architecture of Rome alike received a new life at his hands. In each +alike he cast away shams and pretenses, and made the true construction +of the fabric stand out before men's eyes. Master of the Rome world, if +not King, yet more than King, he let the true nature of his power be +seen, and, first among the Caesars, arrayed himself with the outward pomp +of sovereignty. + +In a smaller man we might have deemed the change a mark of weakness, a +sign of childish delight in gewgaws, titles, and trappings. Such could +hardly have been the motive in the man who, when he deemed that his work +was done, could cast away both the form and the substance of power, and +could so steadily withstand all temptations to take them up again. It +was simply that the change was fully wrought; that the chief magistrate +of the commonwealth had gradually changed into the sovereign of the +Empire; that Imperator, Caesar, and Augustus, once titles lowlier than +that of King, had now become, as they have ever since remained, titles +far loftier. The change was wrought, and all that Diocletian did was to +announce the fact of the change to the world. + +Nor did the organizing hand of Jovius confine its sphere to the polity +of the Empire only. He built himself a house, and, above all builders, +he might boast himself of the house that he had builded. Fast by his +own birthplace--a meaner soul might have chosen some distant +spot--Diocletian reared the palace which marks a still greater epoch in +Roman art than his political changes mark in Roman polity. On the inmost +shore of one of the lake-like inlets of the Hadriatic, an inlet guarded +almost from sight by the great island of Bua at its mouth, lay his own +Salona, now desolate, then one of the great cities of the Roman world. +But it was not in the city, it was not close under its walls, that +Diocletian fixt his home. An isthmus between the bay of Salona and the +outer sea cuts off a peninsula, which again throws out two horns into +the water to form the harbor which has for ages supplanted Salona. + +There, not on any hill-top, but on a level spot by the coast, with the +sea in front, with a background of more distant mountains, and with +one peaked hill rising between the two seas like a watch-tower, did +Diocletian build the house to which he withdrew when he deemed that his +work of empire was over. And in building that house, he won for himself, +or for the nameless genius whom he set at work, a place in the history +of art worthy to rank alongside of Iktinos of Athens and Anthemios of +Byzantium, of William of Durham and of Hugh of Lincoln. + +And now the birthplace of Jovius is forsaken, but his house still +abides, and abides in a shape marvelously little shorn of its ancient +greatness. The name which it still bears comes straight from the name of +the elder home of the Caesars. The fates of the two spots have been in a +strange way the converse of one another. By the banks of the Tiber the +city of Romulus became the house of a single man: by the shores of the +Hadriatic the house of a single man became a city. The Palatine hill +became the Palatium of the Caesars, and Palatium was the name which was +borne by the house of Caesar by the Dalmatian shore. The house became a +city; but its name still clave to it, and the house of Jovius still, +at least in the mouths of its own inhabitants, keeps its name in the +slightly altered form of Spalato.... + +We land with the moon lighting up the water, with the stars above us, +the northern wain shining on the Hadriatic, as if, while Diocletian was +seeking rest by Salona, the star of Constantine was rising over York +and Trier. Dimly rising above us we see, disfigured indeed, but not +destroyed, the pillared front of the palace, reminding us of the +Tabularium of Rome's own capitol. We pass under gloomy arches, through +dark passages and presently we find ourselves in the center of palace +and city, between those two renowned rows of arches which mark the +greatest of all epochs in the history of the building art. We think how +the man who reorganized the Empire of Rome was also the man who first +put harmony and consistency into the architecture of Rome. We think +that, if it was in truth the crown of Diocletian which passed to every +Caesar from the first Constantius to the last Francis, it was no less in +the pile which rose into being at his word that the germ was planted +which grew into Pisa and Durham, into Westminster and Saint Ouen. + +There is light enough to mark the columns put for the first time to +their true Roman use, and to think how strange was the fate which called +up on this spot the happy arrangement which had entered the brain of no +earlier artist--the arrangement which, but a few years later, was to be +applied to another use in the basilica of the Lateran and in Saint Paul +Without the Walls. Yes, it is in the court of the persecutor, the man +who boasted that he had wiped out the Christian superstition from the +world, that we see the noblest forestalling of the long arcades of the +Christian basilica. + +It is with thoughts like these, thoughts pressing all the more upon us +where every outline is clear and every detail is visible, that we tread +for the first time the Court of Jovius--the columns with their arches on +either side of us, the vast bell-tower rising to the sky, as if to mock +the art of those whose mightiest works might still seem only to grovel +upon earth. Nowhere within the compass of the Roman world do we find +ourselves more distinctly in the presence of one of the great minds +of the world's history; we see that, alike in politics and in art, +Diocletian breathed a living soul into a lifeless body. In the bitter +irony of the triumphant faith, his mausoleum has become a church, his +temple has become a baptistery, the great bell-tower rises proudly over +his own work; his immediate dwelling-place is broken down and crowded +with paltry houses; but the sea-front and the Golden Gate are still +there amid all disfigurements, and the great peristyle stands almost +unhurt, to remind us of the greatest advance that a single mind ever +made in the progress of the building art. + +At the present time the city into which the house of Diocletian has +grown is the largest and most growing town of the Dalmatian coast. It +has had to yield both spiritual and temporal precedence to Zara, but, +both in actual population and all that forms the life of a city, Spalato +greatly surpasses Zara and all its other neighbors. The youngest +Dalmatian towns, which could boast neither of any mythical origin nor of +any Imperial foundation, the city which, as it were, became a city by +mere chance, has outstript the colonies of Epidauros, of Corinth, and of +Rome. + +The palace of Diocletian had but one occupant; after the founder no +Emperor had dwelled in it, unless we hold that this was the villa near +Salona where the deposed Emperor Nepos was slain, during the patriciate +of Odoacer. The forsaken palace seems, while still almost new, to have +become a cloth factory, where women worked, and which therefore appears +in the "Notitia" as a Gynaecium. But when Salona was overthrown, the +palace stood ready to afford shelter to those who were driven from their +homes. The palace, in the widest sense of the word--for of course its +vast circuit took in quarters for soldiers and officials of various +kinds, as well as the rooms actually occupied by the Emperor--stood +ready to become a city. + +It was a chester ready made, with its four streets, its four gates, all +but that toward the sea flanked with octagonal towers, and with four +greater square towers at the corners. To this day the circuit of the +walls is nearly perfect; and the space contained within them must be as +large as that contained within some of the oldest chesters in our own +island. The walls, the towers, the gates, are those of a city rather +than of a house. Two of the gates, tho' their towers are gone, are +nearly perfect; the "porta aurea," with its graceful ornaments; the +"porta ferrea" in its stern plainness, strangely crowned with its small +campanile of later days perched on its top. Within the walls, besides +the splendid buildings which still remain, besides the broken-down walls +and chambers which formed the immediate dwelling-place of the founder, +the main streets were lined with massive arcades, large parts of which +still remain. + +Diocletian, in short, in building a house, had built a city. In the days +of Constantine Porphyrogenitus it was a "Kaotpov"--Greek and English had +by his day alike borrowed the Latin name; but it was a "Kaotpov" which +Diocletian had built as his own house, and within which was his hall +and palace. In his day the city bore the name of Aspalathon, which he +explains to mean "little palace." When the palace had thus become a +common habitation of men, it is not wonderful that all the more private +buildings whose use had passed away were broken down, disfigured, and +put to mean uses. + +The work of building over the site must have gone on from that day to +this. The view in Wheeler shows several parts of the enclosure occupied +by ruins which are now covered with houses. The real wonder is that so +much has been spared and has survived to our own days. And we are rather +surprised to find Constantine saying that in his time the greater part +had been destroyed. For the parts which must always have been the +stateliest remain still. The great open court, the peristyle, with its +arcades, have become the public plaza of the town; the mausoleum on +one side of it and the temple on the other were preserved and put to +Christian uses. + +We say the mausoleum, for we fully accept the suggestion made by +Professor Glavinich, the curator of the museum of Spalato, that the +present duomo, traditionally called the Temple of Jupiter, was not a +temple, but a mausoleum. These must have been the great public buildings +of the palace, and, with the addition of the bell-tower, they remain the +chief public buildings of the modern city. But, tho' the ancient square +of the palace remains wonderfully perfect, the modern city, with its +Venetian defenses, its Venetian and later buildings, has spread itself +far beyond the walls of Diocletian. But those walls have made the +history of Spalato, and it is the great buildings which stand within +them that give Spalato its special place in the history of architecture. + + +RAGUSA[12] + +BY HARRY DE WINDT + +Viewed from the sea, and at first sight, the place somewhat resembles +Monte Carlo with its white villas, palms, and background of rugged, +gray hills. But this is the modern portion of the town, outside the +fortifications, erected many centuries ago. Within them lies the +real Ragusa--a wonderful old city which teems with interest, for its +time-worn buildings and picturesque streets recall, at every turn, the +faded glories of this "South Slavonic Athens." A bridge across the moat +which protects the old city is the link between the present and past. +In new Ragusa you may sit on the crowded esplanade of a fashionable +watering place; but pass through a frowning archway into the old +town, and, save in the main street, which has modern shops and other +up-to-date surroundings, you might be living in the dark ages. For as +far back as in the ninth century Ragusa was the capital of Dalmatia +and an independent republic, and since that period her literary and +commercial triumphs, and the tragedies she has survived in the shape +of sieges, earthquakes, and pestilence, render the records of this +little-known state almost as engrossing as those of ancient Rome. + +Until I came here I had pictured a squalid Eastern place, devoid of +ancient or modern interest; most of my fellow-countrymen probably do +likewise, notwithstanding the fact that when London was +a small and obscure town Ragusa was already an important center of +commerce and civilization. The republic was always a peaceful one, and +its people excelled in trade and the fine arts. Thus, as early as the +fourteenth century the Ragusan fleet was the envy of the world; its +vessels were then known as Argusas to British mariners, and the English +word "Argosy" is probably derived from the name. These tiny ships went +far afield--to the Levant and Northern Europe, and even to the Indies--a +voyage frought, in those days, with much peril. At this epoch Ragusa had +achieved a mercantile prosperity unequalled throughout Europe, but in +later years the greater part of the fleet joined and perished with the +Spanish Armada. + +And this catastrophe was the precursor of a series of national +disasters. In 1667 the city was laid waste by an earthquake which +killed over twenty thousand people, and this was followed by a terrible +visitation of the plague, which further decimated the population. +Ragusa, however, was never a large city, and even at its zenith, in +the sixteenth century, it numbered under forty thousand souls, and now +contains only about a third of that number. + +In 1814 the Vienna Congress finally deprived the republic of its +independence, and it became (with Dalmatia) an Austrian possession. +Trade has not increased here of recent years, as in Herzegovina and +Bosnia. The harbor, at one time one of the most important ports in +Europe, is too small and shallow for modern shipping, and the oil +industry, once the backbone of the place, has sadly dwindled of late +years. + +Ragusa itself now having no harbor worthy of the name, the traveler by +sea must land at Gravosa about a mile north of the old city. Gravosa is +merely a suburb of warehouses, shipping, and sailor-men, as unattractive +as the London Docks, and the Hotel Petko swarmed with mosquitoes and +an animal which seems to thrive and flourish throughout the Balkan +States--the rat. + +The old Custom House is perhaps the most beautiful building in Ragusa, +and is one of the few which survived the terrible earthquake of 1667. +The structure bears the letters "I.H.S." over the principal entrance in +commemoration of this fact. Its courtyard is a dream of beauty, and the +stone galleries around it are surrounded with inscriptions of great age. + +Ragusa is a Slav town, but altho' the name of streets appear in Slavonic +characters, Italian is also spoken on every side and the "Stradone," +with its arcades and narrow precipitous alleys at right angles, is not +unlike a street in Naples. The houses are built in small blocks, as +a protection against earthquakes--the terror of every Ragusan (only +mention the word and he will cross himself)--and here on a fine Sunday +morning you may see Dalmatians, Albanians, and Herzegovinians in their +gaudiest finery, while here and there a wild-eyed Montenegrin, armed to +the teeth, surveys the gay scene with a scowl, of shyness rather than +ill-humor. + +Outside the cafe, on the Square (where flocks of pigeons whirl around as +at St. Mark's in Venice), every little table is occupied; but here the +women are gowned in the latest Vienna fashions, and Austrian uniforms +predominate. And the sun shines as warmly as in June (on this 25th day +of March), and the cathedral bells chime a merry accompaniment to a +military band; a sky of the brightest blue gladdens the eye, fragrant +flowers the senses, and the traveler sips his bock or mazagran, and +thanks his stars he is not spending the winter in cold, foggy England. +Refreshments are served by a white-aproned garcon, and street boys +are selling the "Daily Mail" and "Gil Blas," just as they are on the +far-away boulevards of Paris. + + +CATTARO[13] + +BY EDWARD A. FREEMAN + +The end of a purely Dalmatian pilgrimage will be Cattaro. He who goes +further along the coast will pass into lands that have a history, past +and present, which is wholly distinct from that of the coast which he +has hitherto traced from Zara--we might say from Capo d'Istria--onward. +We have not reached the end of the old Venetian dominion--for that we +must carry our voyage to Crete and Cyprus. But we have reached the end +of the nearly continuous Venetian dominion--the end of the coast which, +save at two small points, was either Venetian or Regusan--the end of +that territory of the two maritime commonwealths which they kept down to +their fall in modern times, and in which they have been succeeded by the +modern Dalmatian kingdom.... + +The city stands at the end of an inlet of the sea fifteen or twenty +miles long, and it has mountains around it so high that it is only in +fair summer weather that the sun can be seen; in winter Cattaro never +enjoys his presence. There certainly is no place where it is harder to +believe that the smooth waters of the narrow, lake-like inlet, with +mountains on each side which it seems as if one could put out one's hand +and touch, are really part of the same sea which dashes against the +rocks of Ragusa. They end in a meadow-like coast which makes one think +of Bourget or Trasimenus rather than of Hadria. The Dalmatian voyage is +well ended by the sail along the Bocche, the loveliest piece of inland +sea which can be conceived, and whose shores are as rich in curious bits +of political history as they are in scenes of surpassing natural beauty. + +The general history of the district consists in the usual tossing to and +fro between the various powers which have at different times been strong +in the neighborhood. Cattaro was in the reign of Basil the Macedonian +besieged and taken by Saracens, who presently went on unsuccessfully to +besiege Ragusa. And, as under Byzantine rule it was taken by Saracens, +so under Venetian rule it was more than once besieged by Turks. In the +intermediate stages we get the usual alternations of independence and of +subjection to all the neighboring powers in turn, till in 1419 Cattaro +finally became Venetian. At the fall of the republic it became part of +the Austrian share of the spoil. When the spoilers quarreled, it fell +to France. When England, Russia, and Montenegro were allies, the city +joined the land of which it naturally forms the head, and Cattaro became +the Montenegrin haven and capital. When France was no longer dangerous, +and the powers of Europe came together to parcel out other men's goods, +Austria calmly asked for Cattaro back again, and easily got it. + +In the city of Cattaro the Orthodox Church is still in a minority, but +it is a minority not far short of a majority. Outside its walls, the +Orthodox outnumber the Catholics. In short, when we reach Cattaro, we +have very little temptation to fancy ourselves in Italy or in any part +of Western Christendom. We not only know, but feel, that we are on the +Byzantine side of the Hadriatic; that we have, in fact, made our way +into Eastern Europe. + +And East and West, Slav and Italian, New Rome and Old, might well +struggle for the possession of the land and of the water through which +we pass from Ragusa to our final goal at Cattaro. The strait leads us +into a gulf; another narrow strait leads us into an inner gulf; and on +an inlet again branching out of that inner gulf lies the furthest of +Dalmatian cities. The lower city, Cattaro itself, seems to lie so +quietly, so peacefully, as if in a world of its own from which nothing +beyond the shores of its own Bocche could enter, that we are tempted to +forget, not only that the spot has been the scene of so many revolutions +through so many ages, but that it is even now a border city, a city on +the marchland of contending powers, creeds, and races.... + +The city of Cattaro itself is small, standing on a narrow ledge between +the gulf and the base of the mountain. It carries the features of the +Dalmatian cities to what any one who has not seen Traue will call their +extreme point. But, tho' the streets of Cattaro are narrow, yet they are +civilized and airy-looking compared with those of Traue, and the little +paved squares, as so often along this coast, suggest the memory of the +ruling city. + +The memory of Venice is again called up by the graceful little scraps of +its characteristic architecture which catch the eye ever and anon among +the houses of Cattaro. The landing-place, the marina, the space between +the coast and the Venetian wall, where we pass for the last time under +the winged lion over the gate, has put on the air of a boulevard. But +the forms and costume of Bocchesi and Montenegrins, the men of the gulf, +with their arms in their girdles, no less than the men of the black +mountain, banish all thought that we are anywhere but where we really +are, at one of the border points of Christian and civilized Europe. If +in the sons of the mountains we see the men who have in all ages held +out against the invading Turk, we see in their brethren of the coast the +men who, but a few years back, brought Imperial, Royal, and Apostolic +Majesty to its knees ... + +At Cattaro the Orthodox Church is on its own ground, standing side by +side on equal terms with its Latin rival, pointing to lands where the +Filioque[14] is unknown and where the Bishop of the Old Rome has even +been deemed an intruder. The building itself is a small Byzantine +church, less Byzantine in fact in its outline than the small churches of +the Byzantine type at Zara, Spalato, and Traue. The single dome rises, +not from the intersection of a Greek cross, but from the middle of a +single body, and, resting as it does on pointed arches, it suggests +the thought of Perigueux and Angouleme. But this arrangement, which is +shared by a neighboring Latin church, is well known throughout the East. + +The Latin duomo, which has been minutely described by Mr. Neale,[15] is +of quite another type, and is by no means Dalmatian in its general look. +A modern west front with two western towers does not go for much; but it +reminds us that a design of the same kind was begun at Traue in better +times. The inside is quite unlike anything of later Italian work. + +The traveler whose objects are of a more general kind turns away from +this border church of Christendom as the last stage of a pilgrimage +unsurpassed either for natural beauty or for historic interest. And, as +he looks up at the mountain which rises almost close above the east end +of the duomo of Cattaro, and thinks of the land[16] and the men to which +the path over that mountain leads, he feels that, on this frontier at +least, the spirit still lives which led English warriors to the side of +Manuel Komnenos, and which steeled the heart of the last Constantine to +die in the breach for the Roman name and the faith of Christendom. + + + +VIII + +OTHER AUSTRIAN SCENES + +CRACOW[17] + +BY MENIE MURIEL DOWIE + +Cracow, old, tired and dispirited, speaks and thinks only of the ruinous +past. When you drive into Cracow from the station for the first time, +you are breathless, smiling, and tearful all at once; in the great +Ring-platz--a mass of old buildings--Cracow seems to hold out her arms +to you--those long sides that open from the corner where the cab drives +in. You do not have time to notice separately the row of small trees +down on one side, beneath which bright-colored women-figures control +their weekly market; you do not notice the sort of court-house in the +middle with its red roof, cream-colored galleries and shops beneath; you +do not notice the great tall church at one side of brick and stone most +perfectly time-reconciled, or the houses, or the crazed paving, or the +innocent little groups of cabs--you only see Cracow holding out her arms +to you, and you may lean down your head and weep from pure instinctive +sympathy. Suddenly a choir of trumpets breaks out into a chorale from +the big church tower; the melancholy of it I shall never forget--the +very melody seemed so old and tired, so worn and sweet and patient, like +Cracow. Those trumpet notes have mourned in that tower for hundreds of +years. It is the Hymn of Timeless Sorrow that they play, and the key +to which they are attuned in Cracow's long despair. Hush! That is her +voice, the old town's voice, high and sad--she is speaking to you. + +Dear Cracow! Never again it seems to me, shall I come so near to the +deathless hidden sentiment of Poland as in those first moments. It would +be no use to tell her to take heart, that there may be brighter days +coming, and so forth. Lemberg may feel so, Lemberg that has the feelings +of any other big new town, the strength and the determination; but +Cracow's day was in the long ago, as a gay capital, a brilliant +university town full of princes, of daring, of culture, of wit. She has +outlived her day, and can only mourn over what has been and the times +that she has seen; she may be always proud of her character, of the +brave blood that has made scarlet her streets, but she can never be +happy remodeled as an Austrian garrison town, and in the new Poland--the +Poland whose foundation stones are laid in the hearts of her people, +and that may yet be built some day--in that new Poland there will be no +place for aristocratic, high-bred Cracow. + +During my stay in the beautiful butter-colored palace that is now a +hotel, I went round the museums, galleries, and universities, most if +not all of which are free to the public. It would be unfair to give the +idea that Cracow has completely fallen to decay. This is not the case. +Austria has erected some very handsome buildings; and a town with such +fine pictures, good museums, and two universities, can not be complained +of as moribund. At the same time, I can only record faithfully my +impression, and that was that everything new, everything modern, was +hopelessly out of tone in Cracow; progress, which, tho' desirable, may +be a vulgar thing, would not suit her, and does not seem at home in her +streets. + +About the Florian's Thor, with its round towers of old, sorrel-colored +brick, and the Czartoryski Museum, there is nothing to say that the +guide-book would not say better. In the museum, a tattered Polish flag +of red silk, with the white eagle, a cheerful bird with curled tail, +opened mouth, chirping defiantly to the left, imprest me, and a portrait +of Szopen (Chopin) in fine profile when laid out dead. For amusement, +there was a Paul Potter bull beside a Paul Potter willow, delightfully +unconscious of a coming Paul Potter thunderstorm, and a miniature of +Shakespeare which did not resemble any of the portraits of him that I +am familiar with. Any amount of Turkish trappings and reminiscences of +Potocki and Kosciuszko, of course. As I had no guide-book, I am quite +prepared to learn that I overlooked the most important relics. + +In the cathedral, away up on the hill of Wawel, above the river Vistula +(Wisla) I prowled about among the crypts with a curious specimen of +beadledom who ran off long unintelligible histories in atrocious +Viennese patois about every solemn tomb by which we stood. So far as I +was concerned it might just as well have been the functionary who herds +small droves of visitors in Westminster Abbey. I never listen to these +people, because (i) I do not care to be informed; and (ii) since I +should never remember what they said, it is useless my even letting it +in at one ear. The kindly, cobwebby old person who piloted me +among those wonderful kings' graves in Cracow was personally not +uninteresting, indeed a fine study, and his rigmaroles brought up +infallibly upon three words which I could not fail to notice: these +were "silberner Sarg vergoldet" (silver coffin, gilded). It had an odd +fascination for me this phrase, as I stood always waiting for it; why, I +wondered, should anybody want to gild a good solid silver coffin? + +At the time of my first visit, the excavation necessary to form the +crypt for the resting-place of Mickiewicz[18] was in progress, and I +went in among the limey, dusty workmen, with their tallow candles, +and looked round. In return for my gulden, the beadle gave me a +few immortelles from Sobieski's tomb, and some laurel leaves from +Kosciuszko's; and remembering friends at home of refinedly ghoulish +tastes, I determined to preserve those poor moldering fragments for +them. + +Most of my days and evenings I spent wandering by the Vistula and in and +out of the hundred churches. My plan was to sight a spire, and then walk +to the root of it, so to speak. In this manner I saw the town very well. +The houses were of brick and plaster, the rich carmine-red brick that +has made Cracow so beautiful. On each was a beautiful facade, and +pediments in renaissance, bas-relief work of cupids, and classic figures +with ribands and roses tying among them, seeming to speak, somehow, of +the dead princes and the mighty aristocracy which had cost Cracow so +dear. + +In the Jews' quarter that loud lifelong market of theirs was going +forward, which required seemingly only some small basinfuls of sour +Gurken and a few spoonfuls of beans of its stock-in-trade. Mingling +among the Jews were the peasants, of course; the men in tightly fitting +trousers of white blanket cloth, rich embroidered on the upper part and +down the seams in blue and red; the women wearing pink printed muslin +skirts, often with a pale blue muslin apron and a lemon-colored fine +wool cloth, spotted in pink, upon the head. They manifested a great +appreciation of color, but none of form, and after the free dress of +the Hucal women, these people, mummied in their red tartan shawls--all +hybrid Stewarts, they seemed to me--were merely bright bundles in the +sunshine. + +In the shops in Cracow, French was nearly always the language of attack, +and a good deal was spoken in the hotel. I had occasion to buy a great +many things, but, according to my custom, not a photograph was among +them; therefore, when I go back, I shall receive perfectly new and fresh +impressions of the place, and can cherish no vague memories, encouraged +by an album at home, in which the nameless cathedrals of many countries +confuse themselves, and only the Coliseum at Rome stands forth, not to +be contradicted or misnamed. + +But it became necessary to put a period to my wandering, unless I wished +to find myself stranded in Vienna with "neither cross nor pile." The +references to money-matters have been designedly slight throughout these +pages. It is not my habit to keep accounts. I have never found that +you get any money back by knowing just how you have spent it, and a +conscience-pricking record of expenses is very ungrateful reading. So, +when a certain beautiful evening came, I felt that I had to look upon it +as my last. Being too early for the train, I bid the man drive about in +the early summer dark for three-quarters of an hour. + +To such as do not care for precise information and statistics in foreign +places, but appreciate rather atmosphere and impression, I can recommend +this course. In and out among the pretty garden woods, outside the town, +we drove. Buildings loomed majestically out of the night; sometimes it +was the tower of an unknown church, sometimes it was the house of some +forgotten family that sprang suggestively to the eye, and I was grateful +that I was left to suppose the indefinite type of Austrian bureau, which +occupied, in all probability, the first floor. Then we came to the +river, and later, Wawel stood massed out black upon the blue, the +glorious gravestone of a fallen Power. + +All the stars were shining, and little red-yellow lights in the castle +windows were not much bigger. Above the whisper of the willows on its +bank came the deep, quiet murmur of the Vistula, and every now and then, +over the several towers of the solemn old palaces and the spires of the +church where Poland has laid her kings, and so recently the king of the +poets, the stars were dropping from their places, like sudden spiders, +letting themselves down into the vast by faint yellow threads that +showed a moment after the star itself was gone. + +Later, as I looked from the open gallery of the train that was taking me +away, I could not help thinking that, just a hundred years ago, Wawel's +star was shining with a light bright enough for all Europe to see; +but even as the stars fell that night and left their places empty, so +Wawel's star has fallen and Poland's star has fallen too. + + +ON THE ROAD TO PRAGUE[19] + +BY BAYARD TAYLOR + +I was pleasantly disappointed on entering Bohemia. Instead of a dull, +uninteresting country, as I expected, it is a land full of the most +lovely scenery. There is everything which can gratify the eye--high blue +mountains, valleys of the sweetest pastoral look and romantic old ruins. +The very name of Bohemia is associated with wild and wonderful legends +of the rude barbaric ages. Even the chivalric tales of the feudal times +of Germany grow tame beside these earlier and darker histories. The +fallen fortresses of the Rhine or the robber-castles of the Odenwald +had not for me so exciting an interest as the shapeless ruins cumbering +these lonely mountains. The civilized Saxon race was left behind; I +saw around me the features and heard the language of one of those rude +Slavonic tribes whose original home was on the vast steppes of Central +Asia. + +I have rarely enjoyed traveling more than our first two days' journey +toward Prague. The range of the Erzgebirge ran along on our right; the +snow still lay in patches upon it, but the valleys between, with their +little clusters of white cottages, were green and beautiful. About six +miles before reaching Teplitz we passed Kulm, the great battlefield +which in a measure decided the fate of Napoleon. He sent Vandamme with +forty thousand men to attack the allies before they could unite their +forces, and thus effect their complete destruction. Only the almost +despairing bravery of the Russian guards under Ostermann, who held him +in check till the allied troops united, prevented Napoleon's design. At +the junction of the roads, where the fighting was hottest, the Austrians +have erected a monument to one of their generals. Not far from it is +that of Prussia, simple and tasteful. A woody hill near, with the little +village of Kulm at its foot, was the station occupied by Vandamme at +the commencement of the battle. There is now a beautiful chapel on its +summit which can be seen far and wide. A little distance farther the +Czar of Russia has erected a third monument, to the memory of the +Russians who fell. Four lions rest on the base of the pedestal, and on +the top of the shaft, forty-five feet high, Victory is represented as +engraving the date, "Aug. 30, 1813," on a shield. The dark pine-covered +mountains on the right overlook the whole field and the valley of +Torlitz; Napoleon rode along their crests several days after the battle +to witness the scene of his defeat. + +Teplitz lies in a lovely valley, several miles wide, bounded by the +Bohemian mountains on one side and the Erzgebirge on the other. One +straggling peak near is crowned with a picturesque ruin, at whose foot +the spacious bath-buildings lie half hidden in foliage. As we went +down the principal street I noticed nearly every house was a hotel; we +learned afterward that in summer the usual average of visitors is five +thousand.[20] The waters resemble those of the celebrated Carlsbad; they +are warm and practically efficacious in rheumatism and diseases of like +character. After leaving Teplitz the road turned to the east, toward a +lofty mountain which we had seen the morning before. The peasants, as +they passed by, saluted us with "Christ greet you!" + +We stopt for the night at the foot of the peak called the Milleschauer, +and must have ascended nearly two thousand feet, for we had a wide view +the next morning, altho' the mists and clouds hid the half of it. The +weather being so unfavorable, we concluded not to ascend, and descended +through green fields and orchards snowy with blossoms to Lobositz, on +the Elbe. Here we reached the plains again, where everything wore the +luxuriance of summer; it was a pleasant change from the dark and rough +scenery we left. + +The road passed through Theresienstadt, the fortress of Northern +Bohemia. The little city is surrounded by a double wall and moat which +can be filled with water, rendering it almost impossible to be taken. In +the morning we were ferried over the Moldau, and after journeying nearly +all day across barren, elevated plains saw, late in the afternoon, the +sixty-seven spires of Prague below. + +I feel out of the world in this strange, fantastic, yet beautiful, old +city. We have been rambling all morning through its winding streets, +stopping sometimes at a church to see the dusty tombs and shrines or to +hear the fine music which accompanies the morning mass. I have seen no +city yet that so forcibly reminds one of the past and makes him forget +everything but the associates connected with the scenes around him. +The language adds to the illusion. Three-fourths of the people in the +streets speak Bohemian and many of the signs are written in the same +tongue. + +The palace of the Bohemian kings still looks down on the city from the +western heights, and their tombs stand in the cathedral of St. John. +When one has climbed up the stone steps leading to the fortress, there +is a glorious prospect before him. Prague with its spires and towers +lies in the valleys below, through which curves the Moldau with its +green islands, disappearing among the hills which enclose the city on +every side. The fantastic Byzantine architecture of many of the churches +and towers gives the city a peculiar Oriental appearance; it seems to +have been transported from the hills of Syria.... + +Having found out first a few of the locations, we haunted our way with +difficulty through its labyrinths, seeking out every place of note or +interest. Reaching the bridge at last, we concluded to cross over and +ascend to the Hradschin, the palace of the Bohemian kings. The bridge +was commenced in 1357, and was one hundred and fifty years in building. +That was the way the old Germans did their work, and they made a +structure which will last a thousand years longer. Every pier is +surmounted with groups of saints and martyrs, all so worn and timebeaten +that there is little left of their beauty, if they ever had any. The +most important of them--at least to Bohemians--is that of St. John +Nepomuk, now considered as the patron-saint of the land. He was a priest +many centuries ago [1340-1393] whom one of the kings threw from the +bridge into the Moldau because he refused to reveal to him what the +queen confest. The legend says the body swam for some time on the river +with five stars around its head. + +Ascending the broad flight of steps to the Hradschin, I paused a moment +to look at the scene below. A slight blue haze hung over the clustering +towers, and the city looked dim through it, like a city seen in a dream. +It was well that it should so appear, for not less dim and misty are the +memories that haunt its walls. There was no need of a magician's wand to +bid that light cloud shadow forth the forms of other times. They +came uncalled for even by Fancy. Far, far back in the past I saw the +warrior-princess who founded the kingly city--the renowned Libussa, +whose prowess and talent inspired the women of Bohemia to rise at her +death and storm the land that their sex might rule where it obeyed +before. On the mountain opposite once stood the palace of the bloody +Wlaska, who reigned with her Amazon band for seven years over half +Bohemia. Those streets below had echoed with the fiery words of Huss, +and the castle of his follower--the blind Ziska, who met and defeated +the armies of the German Empire--molders on the mountains above. Many a +year of war and tempest has passed over the scene. The hills around have +borne the armies of Wallenstein and Frederick the Great; the war-cry of +Bavaria, Sweden and Poland has echoed in the valley, and the red glare +of the midnight cannon or the flames of burning palaces have often +gleamed along the "blood-dyed waters" of the Moldau... + +On the way down again we stept into the St. Nicholas Church, which was +built by the Jesuits. The interior has a rich effect, being all of brown +and gold. The massive pillars are made to resemble reddish-brown +marble, with gilded capitals, and the statues at the base are profusely +ornamented in the same style. The music chained me there a long time. +There was a grand organ, assisted by a full orchestra and large choir of +singers. It was placed above, and at every sound of the priest's bell +the flourish of trumpets and deep roll of the drums filled the dome with +a burst of quivering sound, while the giant pipes of the organ breathed +out their full harmony and the very air shook under the peal. It was +like a triumphal strain. The soul became filled with thoughts of power +and glory; every sense was changed into one dim, indistinct emotion of +rapture which held the spirit as if spellbound. + +Not far from this place is the palace of Wallenstein, in the same +condition as when he inhabited it. It is a plain, large building having +beautiful gardens attached to it, which are open to the public. We +went through the courtyard, threaded a passage with a roof of rough +stalactitic rock and entered the garden, where a revolving fountain was +casting up its glittering arches. + + +THE CAVE OF ADELSBERG[21] + +BY GEORGE STILLMAN HILLARD + +The night had been passed at Adelsberg, and the morning had been +agreeably occupied in exploring the wonders of its celebrated cavern. +The entrance is through an opening in the side of a hill. In a few +moments, after walking down a gentle descent, a sound of flowing water +is heard, and the light of the torches borne by the guides gleams +faintly upon a river which runs through these sunless chasms, and +revisits the glimpses of day at Planina, some ten miles distant. + +The visitor now finds himself in a vast hall, walled and roofed by +impenetrable darkness of the stream, which is crossed by a wooden +bridge; and the ascent on the other side is made by a similar flight of +steps. The bridge and steps are marked by a double row of lights, which +present a most striking appearance as their tremulous luster struggles +through the night that broods over them. Such a scene recalls Milton's +sublime pictures of Pandemonium, and shows directly to the eye what +effects a great imaginative painter may produce with no other colors +than light and darkness. Here are the "stately height," the "ample +spaces," the "arched roof," the rows of "starry lamps and blazing +cressets" of Satan's hall of council; and by the excited fancy the dim +distance is easily peopled with gigantic forms and filled with the +"rushing of congregated wings." + +After this, one is led through a variety of chambers, differing in size +and form, but essentially similar in character, and the attention is +invited to the innumerable multitude of striking and fantastic objects +which have been formed in the lapse of ages, by the mere dropping of +water. Pendants hang from the roof, stalagmites grow from the floor like +petrified stumps, and pillars and buttresses are disposed as oddly as +in the architecture of a dream. Here, we are told to admire a bell, and +there, a throne; here, a pulpit, and there, a butcher's shop; here, "the +two hearts," and there, a fountain frozen into alabaster; and in every +case we assent to the resemblance in the unquestioning mood of Polonius. +One of the chambers, or halls, is used every year as a ball-room, for +which purpose it has every requisite except an elastic floor, even to a +natural dais for the orchestra. + +Here, with the sort of pride with which a book collector shows a Mazarin +Bible or a folio Shakespeare, the guides point out a beautiful piece of +limestone which hangs from the roof in folds as delicate as a Cashmere +shawl, to which the resemblance is made more exact by a well-defined +border of deeper color than the web. Through this translucent curtain +the light shines as through a picture in porcelain, and one must be very +unimpressible not to bestow the tribute of admiration which is claimed. +These are the trivial details which may be remembered and described, +but the general effect produced by the darkness, the silence, the vast +spaces, the innumerable forms, the vaulted roofs, the pillars and +galleries melting away in the gloom like the long-drawn aisles of a +cathedral, may be recalled but not communicated. + +To see all these marvels requires much time, and I remained under ground +long enough to have a new sense of the blessing of light. The first +glimpse of returning day seen through the distant entrance brought with +it an exhilarating sense of release, and the blue sky and cheerful +sunshine were welcomed like the faces of long absent friends. A cave +like that of Adelsberg--for all limestone caves are, doubtless, +essentially similar in character--ought by all means to be seen if it +comes in one's way, because it leaves impressions upon the mind unlike +those derived from any other object. Nature stamps upon most of her +operations a certain character of gravity and majesty. Order and +symmetry attend upon her steps, and unity in variety is the law by which +her movements are guided. But, beneath the surface of the earth, +she seems a frolicsome child, or a sportive undine, who wreaths the +unmanageable stone into weird and quaint forms, seemingly from no +other motive than pure delight in the exercise of overflowing power. +Everything is playful, airy, and fantastic; there is no spirit of +soberness; no reference to any ulterior end; nothing from which food, +fuel, or raiment can be extracted. These chasms have been scooped out, +and these pillars have been reared, in the spirit in which the bird +sings, or the kitten plays with the falling leaves. From such scenes we +may safely infer that the plan of the Creator comprehends something +more than material utility, that beauty is its own vindictator and +interpreter, that sawmills were not the ultimate cause of mountain +streams, nor wine-bottles of cork-trees. + + +THE MONASTERY OF MOeLK[22] + +BY THOMAS FROGNALL DIBDIN + +We had determined upon dining at Moelk the next day. The early morning +was somewhat inauspicious; but as the day advanced, it grew bright and +cheerful. Some delightful glimpses of the Danube, to the left, from the +more elevated parts of the road, accompanied us the whole way, till we +caught the first view, beneath a bright blue sky, of the towering church +and Monastery of Moelk. + +Conceive what you please, and yet you shall not conceive the situation +of this monastery. Less elevated above the road than Chremsminster, but +of a more commanding style of architecture, and of considerably greater +extent, it strikes you--as the Danube winds round and washes its rocky +base--as one of the noblest edifices in the world. The wooded heights +of the opposite side of the Danube crown the view of this magnificent +edifice, in a manner hardly to be surpassed. There is also a beautiful +play of architectural lines and ornament in the front of the building, +indicative of a pure Italian taste, and giving to the edifice, if not +the air of towering grandeur, at least of dignified splendor.... + +As usual, I ordered a late dinner, intending to pay my respects to +the Principal, and obtain permission to inspect the library. My late +monastic visits had inspired me with confidence; and I marched up the +steep sides of the hill, upon which the monastery is built, quite +assured of the success of the visit I was about to pay. You must now +accompany the bibliographer to the monastery. In five minutes from +entering the outer gate of the first quadrangle--looking toward +Vienna, and which is the more ancient part of the building--I was in +conversation with the Vice-Principal and Librarian, each of us speaking +Latin. I delivered the letter which I had received at Salzburg, and +proceeded to the library. + +The view from this library is really enchanting, and put everything seen +from a similar situation at Landshut and almost even at Chremsminster, +out of my recollection. You look down upon the Danube, catching a fine +sweep of the river, as it widens in its course toward Vienna. A man +might sit, read, and gaze--in such a situation--till he fancied he had +scarcely one earthly want! I now descended a small staircase, which +brought me directly into the large library--forming the right wing of +the building, looking up the Danube toward Lintz. I had scarcely uttered +three notes of admiration, when the Abbe Strattman entered; and to my +surprise and satisfaction, addrest me by name. We immediately commenced +an ardent unintermitting conversation in the French language, which the +Abbe speaks fluently and correctly. + +I now took a leisurely survey of the library; which is, beyond +all doubt, the finest room of its kind which I have seen upon the +Continent--not for its size, but for its style of architecture, and the +materials of which it is composed. I was told that it was "the Imperial +Library in miniature,"--but with this difference, let me here add, in +favor of Moelk--that it looks over a magnificently wooded country, with +the Danube rolling its rapid course at its base. The wainscot and +shelves are walnut tree, of different shades, inlaid, or dovetailed, +surmounted by gilt ornaments. The pilasters have Corinthian capitals of +gilt; and the bolder or projecting parts of a gallery, which surrounds +the room, are covered with the same metal. Everything is in harmony. +This library may be about a hundred feet in length, by forty in width. +It is sufficiently well furnished with books, of the ordinary useful +class, and was once, I suspect, much richer in the bibliographical lore +of the fifteenth century. + +On reaching the last descending step, just before entering the church, +the Vice-Principal bade me look upward and view the corkscrew staircase. +I did so; and to view and admire was one and the same operation of the +mind. It was the most perfect and extraordinary thing of the kind which +I had ever seen--the consummation, as I was told, of that particular +species of art. The church is the very perfection of ecclesiastical +Roman architecture; that of Chremsminster, altho' fine, being much +inferior to it in loftiness and richness of decoration. The windows +are fixt so as to throw their concentrated light beneath a dome, of no +ordinary height, and of no ordinary elegance of decoration; but this +dome is suffering from damp, and the paintings upon the ceiling will, +unless repaired, be effaced in the course of a few years. + +The church is in the shape of a cross; and at the end of each of the +transepts, is a rich altar, with statuary, in the style of art usual +about a century ago. The pews--made of dark mahogany or walnut tree, +much after the English fashion, but lower and more tasteful--are placed +on each side of the nave, or entering; with ample space between them. +They are exclusively appropriated to the tenants of the monastery. At +the end of the nave, you look to the left, opposite--and observe, placed +in a recess--a pulpit, which, from top to bottom, is completely covered +with gold. And yet, there is nothing gaudy or tasteless, or glaringly +obtrusive, in this extraordinary clerical rostrum. The whole is in the +most perfect taste; and perhaps more judgment was required to manage +such an ornament, or appendage--consistently with the splendid style +of decoration exacted by the founder, for it was expressly the Prelate +Dietmayr's wish that it should be so adorned,--than may on first +consideration be supposed. In fact, the whole church is in a blaze +of gold; and I was told that the gilding alone cost upward of ninety +thousand florins. Upon the whole, I understood that the church of this +monastery was considered as the most beautiful in Austria; and I can +easily believe it to be so. + + +THROUGH THE TYROL[23] + +BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT + +I left this most pleasing of the Italian cities (Venice), and took the +road for the Tyrol. We passed through a level fertile country, formerly +the territory of Venice, watered by the Piave, which ran blood in one of +Bonaparte's battles. At evening we arrived at Ceneda, where our Italian +poet Da Ponte[24] was born, situated just at the base of the Alps, the +rocky peaks and irregular spires of which, beautifully green with the +showery season, rose in the background. Ceneda seems to have something +of German cleanliness about it, and the floors of a very comfortable inn +at which we stopt were of wood, the first we had seen in Italy, tho' +common throughout Tyrol and the rest of Germany. A troop of barelegged +boys, just broke loose from school, whooping and swinging their books +and slates in the air, passed under my window. + +On leaving Ceneda, we entered a pass in the mountains, the gorge of +which was occupied by the ancient town of Serravalle, resting on +arcades, the architecture of which denoted that it was built during the +Middle Ages. Near it I remarked an old castle, which formerly commanded +the pass, one of the finest ruins of the kind I had ever seen. It had a +considerable extent of battlemented wall in perfect preservation, and +both that and its circular tower were so luxuriantly loaded with ivy +that they seemed almost to have been cut out of the living verdure. +As we proceeded we became aware how worthy this region was to be the +birthplace of a poet. + +A rapid stream, a branch of the Piave, tinged of a light and somewhat +turbid blue by the soil of the mountains, came tumbling and roaring +down the narrow valley; perpendicular precipices rose on each side; and +beyond, the gigantic brotherhood of the Alps, in two long files of steep +pointed summits, divided by deep ravines, stretched away in the sunshine +to the northeast. In the face of one of the precipices by the way-side, +a marble slab is fixt, informing the traveler that the road was opened +by the late Emperor of Germany in the year of 1830. We followed this +romantic valley for a considerable distance, passing several little blue +lakes lying in their granite basins, one of which is called the "Lago +Morto" or Dead Lake, from having no outlet for its waters. + +At length we began to ascend, by a winding road, the steep sides of the +Alps--the prospect enlarging as we went, the mountain summits rising to +sight around us, one behind another, some of them white with snow, over +which the wind blew with a wintry keenness--deep valleys opening +below us, and gulfs yawning between rocks over which old bridges were +thrown--and solemn fir forests clothing the broad declivities. The +farm-houses placed on these heights, instead of being of brick or stone, +as in the plains and valleys below, were principally built of wood; +the second story, which served for a barn, being encircled by a long +gallery, and covered with a projecting roof of plank held down with +large stones. + +We stopt at Venas, a wretched place with a wretched inn, the hostess +of which showed us a chin swollen with the goitre, and ushered us into +dirty comfortless rooms where we passed the night. When we awoke the +rain was beating against the windows, and, on looking out, the forest +and sides of the neighboring mountains, at a little height above us, +appeared hoary with snow. We set out in the rain, but had not proceeded +far before we heard the sleet striking against the windows of the +carriage, and soon came to where the snow covered the ground to the +depth of one or two inches. + +Continuing to ascend, we passed out of Italy and entered the Tyrol. The +storm had ceased before we went through the first Tyrolese village, and +we could not help being struck with the change in the appearance of the +inhabitants--the different costume, the less erect figures, the awkward +gait, the lighter complexions, the neatly-kept inhabitations, and the +absence of beggars. As we advanced, the clouds began to roll off from +the landscape, disclosing here and there, through openings in their +broad skirts as they swept along, glimpses of the profound valleys below +us, and of the white sides and summits of mountains in the mid-sky +above. At length the sun appeared, and revealed a prospect of such +wildness, grandeur, and splendor as I have never before seen. + +Lofty peaks of the most fantastic shapes, with deep clefts between, +sharp needles of rock, and overhanging crags, infinite in multitude, +shot up everywhere around us, glistening in the new-fallen snow, with +thin wreaths of mist creeping along their sides. At intervals, swollen +torrents, looking at a distance like long trains of foam, came +thundering down the mountains, and crossing the road, plunged into the +verdant valleys which winded beneath. Beside the highway were fields +of young grain, prest to the ground with the snow; and in the meadows, +ranunculuses of the size of roses, large yellow violets, and a thousand +other Alpine flowers of the most brilliant hues, were peeping through +their white covering. + +We stopt to breakfast at a place called Landro, a solitary inn, in the +midst of this grand scenery, with a little chapel beside it. The water +from the dissolving snow was dropping merrily from the roof in a bright +June sun. We needed not to be told that we were in Germany, for we saw +it plainly enough in the nicely-washed floor of the apartment into which +we were shown, in the neat cupboard with the old prayer-book lying upon +it, and in the general appearance of housewifery; to say nothing of the +evidence we had in the beer and tobacco-smoke of the travelers' room, +and the guttural dialect and quiet tones of the guests. + +From Landro we descended gradually into the beautiful valleys of the +Tyrol, leaving the snow behind, tho' the white peaks of the mountains +were continually in sight. At Bruneck, in an inn resplendent with +neatness--we had the first specimen of a German bed. It is narrow and +short, and made so high at the head, by a number of huge square bolsters +and pillows, that you rather sit than lie. The principal covering is a +bag of down, very properly denominated the upper bed, and between this +and the feather-bed below, the traveler is expected to pass a night. An +asthmatic patient on a cold winter night might perhaps find such a couch +tolerably comfortable, if he could prevent the narrow covering from +slipping off on one side or the other. + +The next day we were afforded an opportunity of observing more closely +the inhabitants of this singular region, by a festival, or holiday of +some sort, which brought them into the roads in great numbers, arrayed +in their best dresses--the men in short jackets and small-clothes, with +broad gay-colored suspenders over their waistcoats, and leathern belts +ornamented with gold or silver leaf--the women in short petticoats +composed of horizontal bands of different colors--and both sexes, for +the most part, wearing broad-brimmed hats with hemispherical crowns, +tho' there was a sugar-loaf variety much affected by the men, adorned +with a band of lace and sometimes a knot of flowers. They are a robust, +healthy-looking race, tho' they have an awkward stoop in the shoulders. +But what struck me most forcibly was the devotional habits of the +people. + +The Tyrolese might be cited as an illustration of the remark, that +mountaineers are more habitually and profoundly religious than others. +Persons of all sexes, young and old, whom we meet in the road, were +repeating their prayers audibly. We passed a troop of old women, all in +broad-brimmed hats and short gray petticoats, carrying long staves, one +of whom held a bead-roll and gave out the prayers, to which the others +made the responses in chorus. They looked at us so solemnly from under +their broad brims, and marched along with so grave and deliberate a +pace, that I could hardly help fancying that the wicked Austrians had +caught a dozen elders of the respectable Society of Friends, and put +them in petticoats to punish them for their heresy. We afterward saw +persons going to the labors of the day, or returning, telling their +rosaries and saying their prayers as they went, as if their devotions +had been their favorite amusement. At regular intervals of about half a +mile, we saw wooden crucifixes erected by the way-side, covered from the +weather with little sheds, bearing the image of the Savior, crowned with +thorns and frightfully dashed with streaks and drops of red paint, to +represent the blood that flowed from his wounds. The outer walls of the +better kind of houses were ornamented with paintings in fresco, and the +subjects of these were mostly sacred, such as the Virgin and Child, the +Crucifixion, and the Ascension. The number of houses of worship was +surprising; I do not mean spacious or stately churches such as we meet +with in Italy, but most commonly little chapels dispersed so as best to +accommodate the population. Of these the smallest neighborhood has one +for the morning devotions of its inhabitants, and even the solitary inn +has its little consecrated building with its miniature spire, for the +convenience of pious wayfarers. + +At Sterzing, a little village beautifully situated at the base of the +mountain called the Brenner, and containing, as I should judge, not more +than two or three thousand inhabitants, we counted seven churches and +chapels within the compass of a square mile. The observances of the +Roman Catholic church are nowhere more rigidly complied with than in the +Tyrol. When we stopt at Bruneck on Friday evening, I happened to drop +a word about a little meat for dinner in a conversation with the +spruce-looking landlady, who appeared so shocked that I gave up the +point, on the promise of some excellent and remarkably well-flavored +trout from the stream that flowed through the village--a promise that +was literally fulfilled.... + +We descended the Brenner on the 28th of June in a snow-storm, the wind +whirling the light flakes in the air as it does with us in winter. It +changed to rain, however, as we approached the beautiful and picturesque +valley watered by the river Inn, on the banks of which stands the fine +old town of Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrol. Here we visited the +Church of the Holy Cross, in which is the bronze tomb of Maxmilian I. +and twenty or thirty bronze statues ranged on each side of the nave, +representing fierce warrior-chiefs, and gowned prelates, and stately +damsels of the middle ages. These are all curious for the costume; the +warriors are cased in various kinds of ancient armor, and brandish +various ancient weapons, and the robes of the females are flowing and by +no means ungraceful. Almost every one of the statues has its hands and +fingers in some constrained and awkward position; as if the artist knew +as little what to do with them as some awkward and bashful people know +what to do with their own. Such a crowd of figures in that ancient garb, +occupying the floor in the midst of the living worshipers of the present +day, has an effect which at first is startling. + +From Innsbruck we climbed and crossed another mountain-ridge, scarcely +less wild and majestic in its scenery than those we had left behind. On +descending, we observed that the crucifixes had disappeared from the +roads, and the broad-brimmed and sugar-loaf hats from the heads of the +peasantry; the men wore hats contracted in the middle of the crown like +an hour-glass, and the women caps edged with a broad band of black fur, +the frescoes on the outside of the houses became less frequent; in short +it was apparent that we had entered a different region, even if the +custom-house and police officers on the frontier had not signified to us +that we were now in the kingdom of Bavaria. We passed through extensive +forests of fir, here and there checkered with farms, and finally came +to the broad elevated plain bathed by the Isar, in which Munich is +situated. + + +IN THE DOLOMITES[25] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +The Dolomites are part of the Southern Tyrol. One portion is Italian, +one portion is Austrian, and the rivalry of the two nations is keen. +Under a warm summer sun, the quaint little villages seem half asleep, +and the inhabitants appear to drift dreamily through life. Yet this is +more apparent than real for, in many respects, the people here are busy +in their own way. + +Crossing this region are many mountain ranges of limestone structure, +which by water, weather and other causes have been worn away into the +most fantastic fissures and clefts and the most picturesque peaks and +pinnacles. A very great charm is their curious coloring, often of great +beauty. The region of the Dolomites is a great contrast to the rest of +the Alps. Its characteristics do not make the same appeal to all. This +is largely not only a matter of individual taste and temperament but +also of one's mental or spiritual constitution, for the picture with its +setting depends as much upon what it suggests as upon its constituent +parts. The Dolomites suggest Italy in the contour of the country, in the +grace of the inhabitants and in the colors which make the scene one of +rich magnificence. The great artist Titian was born here[26] and he +probably learned much from his observation of his native place. + +Many of the mountain ranges are of the usual gray but such is the +atmospheric condition that they seem to reflect the rosy rays of the +setting sun or the purplish haze that often is found. The peaks are not +great peaks in the sense that we speak of Mont Blanc, the Jungfrau, +the Matterhorn or Monte Rosa. They impress one more as pictures with +wonderful lights and strange grouping.... + +If the reader intends some day to visit the Dolomites he is advised to +enter from the north. Salzburg and the Salzkammergut, so much frequented +by the Emperor Francis Joseph and the Austrian nobility, make a good +introduction. Then by way of Innsbruck, one of the gems of the Tyrol, +Toblach is reached, where the driving tour may properly begin. Toblach +is a lovely place, if one stops long enough to see it and enjoy it! It +is not very far to Cortina, the center of this beautiful region. The way +there is very lovely. And driving is in keeping with the spirit of the +place. It almost seems profane to rush through in a motor, as some do, +for not only is it impossible to appreciate the scenery, but also it is +out of harmony with the peace and quiet which reign. + +For a while there is traversed a little valley quite embowered in green, +but presently this abruptly leads into a wild gorge, with jagged peaks +on every side. Soon Monte Cristallo appears. This is the most striking +of all the Dolomite peaks. At a tiny village, called Schluderbach, the +road forks, that to the right going directly to Cortina, the other to +the left proceeding by way of Lake Misurina. Lake Misurina is a pretty +stretch of water, pale green in color and at an altitude of about 5,800 +feet. On its shores are two very attractive and well-kept hotels, with +charming walks, from which one looks on a splendid panorama, picturesque +in extreme. + +From Misurina, the road again ascends, becoming very narrow and very +steep. The top is called "Passo Tre Croci," the Pass of the Three +Crosses. The outlook is very lovely, with the three serrated peaks Monte +Cristallo, Monte Piano and Monte Tofana, standing as guardian sentinels +over the little valley of Ampezzo far below, where lies Cortina +sleeping in the sun, while in the distance shine the snow fields of the +Marmolata. Just as steeply as it climbed up one side, the road descends +on the other side, to Cortina. This place is the capital of the valley +and altogether lovely; beautiful in its woods and meadows, beautiful in +its mountain views, beautiful in the town itself and beautiful in its +people. + +Cortina has much to boast of--an ancient church and some old houses; an +industrial school in which the villagers are taught the most delicate +and artistic (and withal comparatively cheap) filigree mosaic work; and +a community of people, handsome in face and figure and possessing +a carriage and refinement superior to any seen elsewhere among the +mountaineers or peasantry. In the neighborhood of Cortina are many +excursions and also extended rock climbs, but those who go there in the +summer will be more apt to linger lazily amid the cool shade of the +trees than to brave the hot Italian sun on the peaks! + +After a few days' stay at Cortina, the drive is continued. There are +many ways out. You can return by a new route to Toblach and the Upper +Tyrol. Or you can go south to Belluno and thence to northern Italy. Or +a third way and perhaps the finest tour of all is that over a series of +magnificent mountain passes to Botzen. This last crosses the Ampezzo +Valley and then begins the ascent of Monte Tofana, which here is +beautifully wooded. Steepness seems characteristic of this region! + +It is hard to imagine a carriage climbing a road any steeper than that +one on the slopes of Monte Tofana! If narrow and steep is the way and +hard and toilsome the climb this Monte Tofana route most certainly +repays one when it reaches the Falzarego Pass (6,945 feet high) which is +certainly an earthly Paradise! One can not aptly describe a view like +that! It is all a picture; as if every part was purposely what it is, +here rocky, here green, here snowy, with summits, valleys, ravines and +villages and even a partly ruined castle to form a whole such as an +artist or poet would revel in. + +After a pause on the summit of the Pass, again comes a steep descent, +as the drive is resumed, which continues to Andraz, where dejeuner +is taken. One can not live on air or scenery and even the most +indefatigable sightseer sometimes turns with longing to luncheon! Then +one returns with added zest to the feast of eye and soul. And at Andraz, +as one lingers awhile after luncheon on that high mountain terrace, +a lovelier scene than that spread before the eye could scarcely be +imagined. Indeed it is a "dream-scene," and as seen in the sleepy +stillness of the early afternoon, when the shadows are already playing +with the lights and gradually overcoming them, it seems like fancy, not +reality. + +Again the carriage is taken and soon the road is climbing once more, +this time giving fine views of the Sella group of peaks and going +through a series of picturesque valleys. At Arabba (5,255 feet), a +pretty little village, the final ascent to Pordoi begins. The +scenery undergoes a change. It becomes more wild and barren and the +characteristics of the high Alps appear. The hour begins to be late and +it becomes cold, but the light still lingers as the carriage reaches the +summit of the pass and stops at the new Hotel Pordoi (7,020 feet high) +facing the weird, fantastic shapes of the Rosengarten and the Langkofel, +on the one side and on the other the snowy Marmolata and the summits +about Cortina.... + +The following morning the start is made for Botzen. The way steadily +descends for hours, past the pretty hamlets of Canazei, Campitello and +Vigo di Fassa, surrounded by an imposing array of Dolomite peaks. After +crossing the Karer Pass the scenery becomes much more soft and pastoral. +Below the pass, most beautifully situated is a little green lake called +the Karer-See.... + +At Botzen the drive through the Dolomites ends. At best it gives but +a glimpse of this delightful region! That glimpse leaves a lasting +impression, not of snowy summits and glistening glaciers, but of +wonderful rocks and more wonderful coloring and of great peaks of +fantastic form, set in a garden spot of green. And Botzen is a fitting +terminus. It dates far back to the Middle Ages. It boasts of churches, +houses and public buildings of artistic merit and architectural beauty +and over all there lingers an atmosphere of rest and refinement, +refreshing to see, where there might have been the noisy bustle and +hopeless vulgarity of so many places similarly situated. + +There is plenty going on, nevertheless, for Botzen is quite a little +commercial center in its own way, but with it there is this charm +of dignified repose. One wanders through the town under the cool +colonnades, strolls into some ancient cloisters, kneels for a moment in +some finely carved church and then goes out again to the open, to see +far above the little city that beautiful background of the Dolomite +peaks, dominated by the wonderfully impressive and fantastic Rosengarten +range, golden red in the western sun. With such a view experience may +well lapse into memory, to linger on so long as the mind possesses the +power of recalling the past. + + +CORTINA[27] + +BY AMELIA B. EDWARDS + +Situate on the left bank of the Boita, which here runs nearly due north +and south, with the Tre Croci pass opening away behind the town to the +east, and the Tre Sassi Pass widening before it to the west, Cortina +lies in a comparatively open space between four great mountains, and is +therefore less liable to danger from bergfalls than any other village +not only in the Val d'Ampezo but in the whole adjacent district. For +the same reason, it is cooler in summer than either Caprile, Agordo, +Primiero, or Predazzo; all of which, tho' more central as stopping +places, and in many respects more convenient, are yet somewhat too +closely hemmed in by surrounding heights. The climate of Cortina is +temperate throughout the year. Ball gives the village an elevation of +4,048 feet above the level of the sea; and one of the parish priests--an +intelligent old man who has devoted many years of his life to collecting +the flora of the Ampezzo--assured me that he had never known the +thermometer drop so low as fifteen degrees[28] of frost in even the +coldest winters. The soil, for all this, has a bleak and barren look; +the maize (here called "grano Turco") is cultivated, but does not +flourish; and the vine is unknown. But then agriculture is not a +specialty of the Ampezzo Thal, and the wealth of Cortina is derived +essentially from its pasture-lands and forests. + +These last, in consequence of the increased and increasing value of +timber, have been lavishly cut down of late years by the Commune--too +probably at the expense of the future interests of Cortina. For the +present, however, every inn, homestead, and public building bespeaks +prosperity. The inhabitants are well-fed and well-drest. Their fairs +and festivals are the most considerable in all the South Eastern Tyrol; +their principal church is the largest this side of St. Ulrich; and their +new Gothic Campanile, 250 feet high, might suitably adorn the piazza of +such cities as Bergamo or Belluno. + +The village contains about 700 souls, but the population of the Commune +numbers over 2,500. Of these, the greater part, old and young, rich and +poor, men, women, and children, are engaged in the timber trade. Some +cut the wood; some transport it. The wealthy convey it on trucks drawn +by fine horses which, however, are cruelly overworked. The poor harness +themselves six or eight in a team, men, women, and boys together, and +so, under the burning summer sun, drag loads that look as if they might +be too much for an elephant.... + +To ascend the Campanile and get the near view over the village, was +obviously one of the first duties of a visitor; so, finding the door +open and the old bellringer inside, we mounted laboriously to the +top--nearly a hundred feet higher than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. +Standing here upon the outer gallery above the level of the great +bells, we had the village and valley at our feet. The panorama, tho' it +included little which we had not seen already, was fine all around, and +served to impress the mainland marks upon our memory. The Ampezzo Thal +opened away to north and south, and the twin passes of the Tre Croci and +Tre Sassi intersected it to east and west. When we had fixt in our minds +the fact that Landro and Bruneck lay out to the north, and Perarolo to +the south; that Auronzo was to be found somewhere on the other side of +the Tre Croci; and that to arrive at Caprile it was necessary to go over +the Tre Sassi, we had gained something in the way of definite topography. +The Marmolata and Civetta, as we knew by our maps, were on the side +of Caprile; and the Marmarole on the side of Auronzo. The Pelmo, left +behind yesterday, was peeping even now above the ridge of the Rochetta; +and a group of fantastic rocks, so like the towers and bastions of a +ruined castle that we took them at first sight for the remains of some +medieval stronghold, marked the summit of the Tre Sassi to the west. + +"But what mountain is that far away to the south?" we asked, pointing in +the direction of Perarolo. + +"Which mountain, Signora?" + +"That one yonder, like a cathedral front with two towers." + +The old bellringer shaded his eyes with one trembling hand, and peered +down the valley. + +"Eh," he said, "it is some mountain on the Italian side." + +"But what is it called?" + +"Eh," he repeated, with a puzzled look, "who knows? I don't know that I +ever noticed it before." + +Now it was a very singular mountain--one of the most singular and the +most striking that we saw throughout the tour. It was exactly like +the front of Notre Dame, with one slender aiguille, like a flagstaff, +shooting up from the top of one of its battlemented towers. It was +conspicuous from most points on the left bank of the Boita; but the best +view, as I soon after discovered, was from the rising ground behind +Cortina, going up through the fields in the direction of the Begontina +torrent. + +To this spot we returned again and again, fascinated as much, perhaps, +by the mystery in which it was enveloped, as by the majestic outline of +this unknown mountain, to which, for want of a better, we gave the name +of Notre Dame. For the old bellringer was not alone in his ignorance. +Ask whom we would, we invariably received the same vague reply--it was +a mountain "on the Italian side." They knew no more; and some, like our +friend of the Campanile, had evidently "not noticed it before." + + + +IX + +ALPINE RESORTS + +THE CALL OF THE MOUNTAINS[29] + +BY FREDERIC HARRISON + +Once more--perhaps for the last time--I listen to the unnumbered +tinkling of the cow-bells on the slopes--"the sweet bells of the +sauntering herd"--to the music of the cicadas in the sunshine, and the +shouts of the neat herdlads, echoing back from Alp to Alp. I hear the +bubbling of the mountain rill, I watch the emerald moss of the pastures +gleaming in the light, and now and then the soft white mist creeping +along the glen, as our poet says, "puts forth an arm and creeps from +pine to pine." And see, the wild flowers, even in this waning season of +the year, the delicate lilac of the dear autumn crocus, which seems to +start up elf-like out of the lush grass, the coral beads of the rowan, +and the beech-trees just begun to wear their autumn jewelry of old gold. + +As I stroll about these hills, more leisurely, more thoughtfully than I +used to do of old in my hot mountaineering days, I have tried to think +out what it is that makes the Alpine landscape so marvelous a tonic to +the spirit--what is the special charm of it to those who have once felt +all its inexhaustible magic. Other lands have rare beauties, wonders of +their own, sights to live in the memory for ever. + +In France, in Italy, in Spain, in Greece and in Turkey, I hold in memory +many a superb landscape. From boyhood upward I thirsted for all kinds of +Nature's gifts, whether by sea, or by river, lake, mountain, or forest. +For sixty years at least I have roved about the white cliffs, the moors, +the riversides, lakes, and pastures of our own islands from Penzance to +Cape Wrath, from Beachy Head to the Shetlands. I love them all. But +they can not touch me, as do the Alps, with the sense at once of +inexhaustible loveliness and of a sort of conscious sympathy with every +fiber of man's heart and brain. Why then is this so? + +I find it in the immense range of the moods in which Nature is seen +in the Alps, as least by those who have fully absorbed all the forms, +sights, sounds, wonders, and adventures they offer. An hour's walk will +show them all in profound contrast and yet in exquisite harmony. The +Alps form a book of Nature as wide and as mysterious as Life. + +Earth has no scenes of placid fruitfulness more balmy than the banks of +one of the larger lakes, crowded with vineyards, orchards, groves and +pastures, down to the edge of its watery mirror, wherein, beside a +semi-tropical vegetation, we see the image of some medieval castle, of +some historic tower, and thence the eye strays up to sunless gorges, +swept with avalanches, and steaming with feathery cascades; and higher +yet one sees against the skyline ranges of terrific crags, girt with +glaciers, and so often wreathed in storm clouds. + +All that Earth has of most sweet, softest, easiest, most suggestive of +langor and love, of fertility and abundance--here is seen in one vision +beside all that Nature has most hard, most cruel, most unkind to +Man--where life is one long weary battle with a frost bitten soil, and +every peasant's hut has been built up stone by stone, and log by log, +with sweat and groans, and wrecked hopes. In a few hours one may pass +from an enchanted garden, where every sense is satiated, and every +flower and leaf and gleam of light is intoxication, up into a wilderness +of difficult crags and yawning glaciers, which men can reach only by +hard-earned skill, tough muscle and iron nerves.... + +The Alps are international, European, Humanitarian. Four written +languages are spoken in their valleys, and ten times as many local +dialects. The Alps are not especially Swiss--I used to think they were +English--they belong equally to four nations of Europe; they are the +sanatorium and the diversorium of the civilized world, the refuge, the +asylum, the second home of men and women famous throughout the centuries +for arts, literature, thought, religion. The poet, the philosopher, +the dreamer, the patriot, the exile, the bereaved, the reformer, the +prophet, the hero--have all found in the Alps a haven of rest, a new +home where the wicked cease from troubling, where men need neither fear +nor suffer. The happy and the thoughtless, the thinker and the sick--are +alike at home here. The patriot exile inscribed on his house on Lake +Leman--"Every land is fatherland to the brave man." What he might have +written is--"This land is fatherland to all men." To young and old, +to strong and weak, to wise and foolish alike, the Alps are a second +fatherland. + + +INTERLAKEN AND THE JUNGFRAU[30] + +B.T. ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +It is hard to find a prettier spot than Interlaken. Situated between two +lovely lakes, surrounded by wooded heights, and lying but a few miles +from the snowy Jungfrau, it is like a jewel richly set. From Lucerne +over the Brunig, from Meiringen over the Grimsel come the travelers, +passing on their way the Lake of Brienz, with the waterfall of the +Giessbach, on its southern side. + +From Berne over Lake Thun, from the Rhone Valley over the Gemmi or +through the Simmenthal come the tourists, seeing as they come the white +peaks of the Oberland. And Interlaken welcomes them all, and rests them +for their closer relations with the High Alps by trips to the region +of the Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwald, and Muerren, and the great mountain +plateaux looking down upon them. Interlaken is not a climbing center. +Consequently mountaineering is little in evidence, conversation about +ascents is seldom heard, and ice-axes, ropes, and nailed boots are seen +more often in shop windows than in the streets. + +Interlaken is not like some other Swiss towns. Berne, Geneva, Zurich, +and Lucerne are places possessing notable churches, museums, and +monuments of the past, having a social life of their own and being +distinguished in some special way, as centers of culture and education. +Interlaken, however, has little life apart from that made by the throngs +of visitors who gather here in the summer. There is little to see except +a group of old monastic buildings, and in Unterseen and elsewhere some +fine old carved chalets, but none of these receives much attention. + +The attraction, on what one may call the natural side, centers in the +softly beautiful panorama of woods and meadows, green hills and snow +peaks which opens to the eye, and on the social side in the busy little +promenade and park of the Hoeheweg, bordered with hotels, shops, and +gardens. Here is ever a changing picture in the height of the season, +in fact, quite kaleidoscopic as railways and steamboats at each end of +Interlaken send their passengers to mingle in the passing crowd. +All "sorts and conditions of men" are here, and representatives of +antagonistic nations meet in friendly intercourse. + +On the hotel terraces and in the little cafes and tea rooms, one hears +a babel of voices, every nation of Europe seeming to speak in its own +native tongue. Life goes easily. There is a gaiety in the little town +that is infectious. It is a sort of busy idleness. "To trip or not to +trip" is the question. If the affirmative, then a rush to the mountain +trains and comfortable cabs. If the negative, then a turning to the +shops, where pretty things worthy of Paris or London are seen side +by side with Swiss carvings and Swiss embroidery and many little +superficial souvenirs. As the contents of the shops are exhibited in the +windows, so the character of the visitors is shown by the crowds, and +the life of the place is seen in the constant ebb and flow of the people +on the Hoeheweg. + +Interlaken is undoubtedly a tourist center, for few trips to Switzerland +overlook or omit this delightful spot. Thousands come here, who never go +any nearer the High Alps. They are quite content to sit on the benches +of the Hoeheweg, listening to the music and enjoying the view. There is a +casino, most artistically planned, with plashing fountains, shady paths, +and wonderful flowerbeds. Here many persons pass the day, and, contrary +to what one might expect, it is quiet and restful, lounging in that +parklike garden. + +For, notwithstanding "the madding crowd," Interlaken is a little gem of +a mountain town, with an undertone of repose and nobility, as if the +spirit of the Alps asserted herself, reigning, as one might say, for +all not ruling. And always smiling at the people, as it were, is the +majestic Jungfrau, ever seeming close at hand, altho' eight miles +away.... + +The pleasures of this little Swiss resort are exhaustless. The wooded +hills of the Rugen give innumerable walks amid beautiful forests, with +all their wealth of pine and larch and hardwood, their moss-clad rocks +and waving ferns. In that pleasant shade hours may be passed close +to nature. The lakes not only offer delightful water trips, but also +charming excursions along the wooded shores, sometimes high above +the lakes, giving varying views of great beauty. While, ever as with +beckoning fingers, the great peaks, snow-capped or rock-summitted, call +one across the verdant meadows into the higher valleys of Kienthal, +Lauterbrunnen, Grindelwaid, and Kandersteg, to the terraced heights +above or up amid the great wild passes. + +Interlaken is, above all, a garden of green. Perhaps the unusual amount +of rain which falls to the lot of this valley accounts for its verdure. +In any event, park, woods, meadow, garden, even the mountain sides are +green, a vari-colored green, and interspersed with an abundance +of flowers. Nowhere is the eye offended by anything inartistic or +unpicturesque, but, on the contrary, the charm is so comprehensive that +the visitor looks from place to place, from this bit to that bit, and +ever sees new beauty. + +To complete all, to accentuate in the minds of some this impression of +green, is the majestic Jungfrau. Other views may be grander and more +magnificent, but no view of the Jungfrau can compare in loveliness to +that from Interlaken. A great white glistening mass, far up above green +meadows, green forests, and green mountains, rises this peak, a shining +summit of white. Fitly named the Virgin, the Jungfrau gives her +benediction to Interlaken, serenely smiling at the valley and at the +town lying so quietly at her feet--the Jungfrau crowned with snow, +Interlaken drest in green! + +In the golden glory of the sun, in the silver shimmer of the moon, the +Jungfrau beckons, the Jungfrau calls! "Come," she seems to say, "come +nearer! Come up to the heights! Come close to the running waters! +Come." And that invitation falls on no unwilling ears, but in to the +Grindelwald and to the Lauterbrunnen and up to Muerren go those who love +the majestic Jungfrau! What a wonderful trip this is! It may shatter +some ideals in being taken to such a height in a railway train, but even +against one's convictions as to the proper way of seeing a mountain, +when all has been said, the fact remains that this trip is wonderful +beyond words. There is a strangeness in taking a train which leaves a +garden of green in the early morning and in a few hours later, after +valley and pass and tunnel, puts one out on snow fields over 11,000 feet +above the sea, where are seen vast stretches of white, almost level with +the summit of the Jungfrau close at hand, and below, stretching for +miles, on the one side the great Aletsch Glacier, and on the other side +the green valleys enclosed by the everlasting hills! + +The route is by way of Lauterbrunnen, Wengen, and the Scheidegg, and +after skirting the Eiger Glacier going by tunnel into the very bowels of +the mountain. At Eigerwand, Rotstock, and Eismeer are stations, great +galleries blasted out of the rock, with corridors leading to openings +from which one has marvelous views.[31] Eismeer looks directly upon the +huge sea of snow and ice, with immense masses of dazzling white so close +as to make one reel with awe and astonishment. In fact, this view is +really oppressive in its wild magnificence, so near and so grand is it. +The Jungfraujoch is different. One is out in the open, so to speak; +one walks over that vast plateau of snow over 11,000 feet high in the +glorious sunlight, above most of the nearer peaks and looking down at a +beautiful panorama. On one side of this plateau is the Jungfrau, on the +other the Moench, either of which can be climbed from here in about three +hours. + +Yet the eye lingers longer in the direction of the Aletsch Glacier than +anywhere else, this frozen river running for miles and turning to the +right at the little green basin of water full of pieces of floating ice, +called the Marjelen Lake, or See, at the foot of the Eggishorn, which is +unique and lovely. Long ago it was formed in this corner of the glacier, +and its blue waters are really melted snow, over which float icebergs +shining in the sun. In such a position the lake underlaps the glacier +for quite a distance, forming a low vaulted cavern in the ice. Every now +and then one of these little bergs overbalances itself and turns over, +the upper side then being a deep blue, and the lower side, which was +formerly above, being a pure white. + +Again turning toward the green valleys, one with the eye of an artist, +who can perceive and differentiate varying shades of color, can not but +admit that the Bernese Oberland is "par excellence" first. Even south of +the Alps the verdure does not excel or even equal that to be seen here. +There is something incomparably lovely about the Oberland valleys. It +is indescribable, indefinable, for when one has exhausted the most +extravagant terms of description, he feels that he has failed to picture +the scene as he desired. Yet if one word should be chosen to convey the +impression which the Oberland makes, the word would be "color." For +whether one regards the snow summits as setting off the valleys, or the +green meadows as setting off the peaks, it matters not, for the secret +of their beauty lies in the richness and variety of the exquisite +coloring wherein many wonderful shades of green predominate. + + +THE ALTDORF OF WILLIAM TELL[32] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +Let it be said at once that, altho' the name of Altdorf is indissolubly +linked with that of William Tell, the place arouses an interest which +does not at all depend upon its associations with the famous archer. +From the very first it gives one the impression of possessing a distinct +personality, of ringing, as it were, to a note never heard before, and +thus challenging attention to its peculiarities. + +As you approach Altdorf from Flueelen, on the Lake of Lucerne, by the +long white road, the first houses you reach are large structures of the +conventional village type, plain, but evidently the homes of well-to-do +people, and some even adorned with family coats-of-arms. In fact, this +street is dedicated to the aristocracy, and formerly went by the name +of the Herrengasse, the "Lane of the Lords." Beyond these fashionable +houses is an open square, upon which faces a cosy inn--named, of course, +after William Tell; and off on one side the large parish church, built +in cheap baroco style, but containing a few objects of interest.... + +There is a good deal of sight-seeing to be done in Altdorf, for so small +a place. In the town hall are shown the tattered flags carried by the +warriors of Uri in the early battles of the Confederation, the mace and +sword of state which are borne by the beadles to the Landsgemeinde. In +a somewhat inaccessible corner, a few houses off, the beginnings of a +museum have been made. Here is another portrait of interest--that of the +giant Puentener, a mercenary whose valor made him the terror of the enemy +in the battle of Marignano, in 1515; so that when he was finally killed, +they avenged themselves, according to a writing beneath the picture, by +using his fat to smear their weapons, and by feeding their horses with +oats from his carcass. Just outside the village stands the arsenal, +whence, they say, old armor was taken and turned into shovels, when the +St. Gothard Railroad was building, so poor and ignorant were the people. + +If you are of the sterner sex, you can also penetrate into the Capuchin +Monastery, and enter the gardens, where the terraces that rise behind +the buildings are almost Italian in appearance, festooned with vines and +radiant with roses. Not that the fame of this institution rests on such +trivial matters, however. The brothers boast of two things: theirs is +the oldest branch of the order in Switzerland, dating from 1581, and +they carry on in it the somewhat unappetizing industry of cultivating +snails for the gourmands of foreign countries. Above the Capuchins is +the famous Bannwald, mentioned by Schiller--a tract of forest on the +mountain-slope, in which no one is allowed to fell trees, because it +protects the village from avalanches and rolling stones. + +Nothing could be fairer than the outskirts of Altdorf on a May morning. +The valley of the Reuss lies bathed from end to end in a flood of +golden light, shining through an atmosphere of crystal purity. Daisies, +cowslips, and buttercups, the flowers of rural well-being, show through +the rising grass of the fields; along the hedges and crumbling walls +of the lanes peep timid primroses and violets, and in wilder spots the +Alpine gentian, intensely blue. High up, upon the mountains, glows the +indescribable velvet of the slopes, while, higher still, ragged and +vanishing patches of snow proclaim the rapid approach of summer. + +After all, the best part of Altdorf, to make an Irish bull, lies outside +of the village. No adequate idea of this strange little community can +be given without referring to the Almend, or village common. Indeed, +as time goes on, one learns to regard this Almend as the complete +expression and final summing up of all that is best in Altdorf, the +reconciliation of all its inconsistencies. + +How fine that great pasture beside the River Reus, with its short, +juicy, Alpine grass, in sight of the snow-capped Bristenstock, at one +end of the valley, and of the waters of Lake Lucerne at the other! In +May, the full-grown cattle have already departed for the higher summer +pastures, leaving only the feeble young behind, who are to follow as +soon as they have grown strong enough to bear the fatigues of the +journey. At this time, therefore, the Almend becomes a sort of vision +of youth--of calves, lambs, and foals, guarded by little boys, all +gamboling in the exuberance of early life. + + +LUCERNE[33] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +A height crowned with embattled ramparts that bristle with loop-holed +turrets; church towers mingling their graceful spires and peaceful +crosses with those warlike edifices; dazzling white villas, planted like +tents under curtains of verdure; tall houses with old red skylights on +the roofs--this is our first glimpse of the Catholic and warlike city of +Lucerne. We seem to be approaching some town of old feudal times that +has been left solitary and forgotten on the mountain side, outside of +the current of modern life. + +But when we pass through the station we find ourselves suddenly +transported to the side of the lake, where whole flotillas of large and +small boats lie moored on the blue waters of a large harbor. And along +the banks of this wonderful lake is a whole town of hotels, gay with +many colored flags, their terraces and balconies rising tier above +tier, like the galleries of a grand theater whose scenery is the mighty +Alps.... + +In summer Lucerne is the Hyde Park of Switzerland. Its quays are +thronged by people of every nation. There you meet pale women from the +lands of snow, and dark women from the lands of the sun; tall, six-foot +English women, and lively, alert, trim Parisian women, with the light +and graceful carriage of a bird on the bough. At certain hours this +promenade on the quays is like a charity fair or a rustic ball--bright +colors and airy draperies everywhere. + +Nowhere can the least calm and repose be found but in the old town. +There the gabled houses, with wooden galleries hanging over the waters +of the Reuss, make a charming ancient picture, like a bit of Venice set +down amid the verdant landscape of the valley. + +I also discovered on the heights beyond the ramparts a pretty and +peaceful convent of Capuchins, the way to which winds among wild plants, +starry with flowers. It is delicious to go right away, far from the town +swarming and running over with Londoners, Germans, and Americans, and to +find yourself among fragrant hedges, peopled by warblers whom it has +not yet occurred to the hotel-keepers to teach to sing in English. This +sweet path leads without fatigue to the convent of the good fathers. + +In a garden flooded with sunshine and balmy with the fragrance of +mignonette and vervain, where broad sunflowers erect their black +discs fringed with gold, two brothers with fan-shaped beards, their +brass-mounted spectacles astride on their flat noses, and arrayed in +green gardening aprons, are plying enormous watering-cans; while, in +the green and cool half-twilight under the shadowy trees, big, rubicund +brothers walk up and down, reading their red-edged breviaries in black +leather bindings. + +Happy monks! Not a fraction of a pessimist among them! How well they +understand life! A beautiful convent, beautiful nature, good wine and +good cheer, neither disturbance nor care; neither wife nor children; and +when they leave the world, heaven specially created for them, seraphim +waiting for them with harps of gold, and angels with urns of rose-water +to wash their feet! + +Lucerne began as a nest of monks, hidden in an orchard like a nest of +sparrows. The first house of the town was a monastery, erected by the +side of the lake. The nest grew, became a village, then a town, then a +city. The monks of Murbach, to whom the monastery of St. Leger belonged, +had got into debt; this sometimes does happen even to monks. They +sold to King Rudolf all the property they possest at Lucerne and in +Unterwalden; and thus the town passed into the hands of the Hapsburgs. + +When the first Cantons, after expelling the Austrian bailiffs, had +declared their independence, Lucerne was still one of Austria's advanced +posts. But its people were daily brought into contact with the shepherds +of the Forest Cantons, who came into the town to supply themselves with +provisions; and they were not long in beginning to ask themselves if +there was any reason why they should not be, as well as their neighbors, +absolutely free. The position of the partizans of Austria soon became so +precarious that they found it safe to leave the town.... + +The opening of the St. Gothard Railway has given a new impulse to this +cosmopolitan city, which has a great future before it. Already it has +supplanted Interlaken in the estimation of the furbelowed, fashionable +world--the women who come to Switzerland not to see but to be seen. +Lucerne is now the chief summer station of the twenty-two Cantons. And +yet it does not possess many objects of interest. There is the old +bridge on the Reuss, with its ancient paintings; the Church of St. +Leger, with its lateral altars and its Campo Santo, reminding us +of Italian cemeteries; the museum at the Town Hall, with its fine +collection of stained glass; the blood-stained standards from the +Burgundian wars, and the flag in which noble old Gundolfingen, after +charging his fellow-citizens never to elect their magistrates for more +than a year, wrapt himself as in a shroud of glory to die in the fight; +finally, there is the Lion of Lucerne; and that is all. + +The most wonderful thing of all is that you are allowed to see this lion +for nothing; for close beside it you are charged a franc for permission +to cast an indifferent glance on some uninteresting excavations, which +date, it is said, from the glacial period. We do not care if they do.... + +The great quay of Lucerne is delightful; as good as the seashore at +Dieppe or Trouville. Before you, limpid and blue, lies the lake, which +from the character of its shores, at once stern and graceful, is the +finest in Switzerland. In front rises the snow-clad peaks of Uri, to the +left the Rigi, to the right the austere Pilatus, almost always wearing +his high cap of clouds. This beautiful walk on the quay, long and shady +like the avenue of a gentleman's park, is the daily resort, toward four +o'clock, of all the foreigners who are crowded in the hotels or packed +in the boarding-houses. Here are Russian and Polish counts with long +mustaches, and pins set with false brilliants; Englishmen with fishes' +or horses' heads; Englishwomen with the figures of angels or of +giraffes; Parisian women, daintily attired, sprightly, and coquettish; +American women, free in their bearing, and eccentric in their dress, and +their men as stiff as the smoke-pipes of steamboats; German women, with +languishing voices, drooping and pale like willow branches, fair-haired +and blue-eyed, talking in the same breath of Goethe and the price of +sausages, of the moon and their glass of beer, of stars and black +radishes. And here and there are a few little Swiss girls, fresh and +rosy as wood strawberries, smiling darlings like Dresden shepherdesses, +dreaming of scenes of platonic love in a great garden adorned with the +statue of William Tell or General Dufour. + + +ZURICH[34] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +If you arrive in Zurich after dark, and pass along the river-front, +you will think yourself for a moment in Venice. The street lamps glow +responsively across the dark Limmat, or trail their light from the +bridges. In the uncertain darkness, the bare house walls of the farther +side put on the dignity of palaces. There are unsuspected architectural +glories in the Wasserkirche and the Rathhaus, as they stand partly in +the water of the river. And if, at such times, one of the long, narrow +barges of the place passes up stream, the illusion is complete; for, as +the boat cuts at intervals through the glare of gaslight it looks for +all the world like a gondola.... + +Zurich need not rely upon any fancied resemblance of this sort for a +distinct charm of its own. The situation of the city is essentially +beautiful, reminding one, in a general way, of that of Geneva, Lucerne, +or Thun--at the outlet of a lake, and at the point of issue of a +swift river. Approaching from the lakeside, the twin towers of the +Grossmuenster loom upon the right, capped by ugly rounded tops, like +miters; upon the left, the simple spires of the Fraumuenster and St. +Peter's. A conglomeration of roofs denotes the city houses. On the +water-front, extensive promenades stretch, crescent shaped, from end +to end, cleverly laid out, tho' as yet too new to quite fulfil their +mission of beauty. Some large white buildings form the front line on +the lake--notably the theater, and a few hotels and apartment houses. +Finally, there where the River Limmat leaves the lake, a vista of +bridges open into the heart of the city--a succession of arches and +lines that invite inspection. + +Like most progressive cities of Europe, Zurich has outgrown its feudal +accouterments within the last fifty years. It has razed its walls, +converted its bastions into playgrounds, and, pushing out on every side, +has incorporated many neighboring villages, until to-day it contains +more than ninety thousand inhabitants.[35] The pride of modern Zurich is +the Bahnhof-strasse, a long street which leads from the railroad station +to the lake. It is planted with trees, and counts as the one and only +boulevard of the city. Unfortunately, a good view of the distant snow +mountains is very rare from the lake promenade, altho' they appear with +distinctness upon the photographs sold in the shops. + +Early every Saturday the peasant women come trooping in, with their +vegetables, fruits, and flowers, to line the Bahnhof-strasse with carts +and baskets. The ladies and kitchen-maids of the city come to buy; but +by noon the market is over. In a jiffy, the street is swept as clean as +a kitchen floor, and the women have turned their backs on Zurich. But +the real center of attraction in Zurich will be found by the traveler in +that quarter where stands the Grossmuenster, the church of which Zwingli +was incumbent for twelve years. + +It may well be called the Wittenberg church of Switzerland. The present +building dates from the eleventh and twelfth centuries; but tradition +has it that the first minster was founded by Charlemagne. That +ubiquitous emperor certainly manifested great interest in Zurich. He +has been represented no less than three times in various parts of the +building. About midway up one of the towers, his statue appears in +a niche, where pigeons strut and prink their feathers, undisturbed. +Charlemagne is sitting with a mighty two-edged sword upon his knees, and +a gilded crown upon his head; but the figure is badly proportioned, and +the statue is a good-natured, stumpy affair, that makes one smile rather +than admire. The outside of the minster still shows traces of the image +breakers of Zwingli's time, and yet the crumbling north portal remains +beautiful, even in decay. As for the interior, it has an exceedingly +bare and stript appearance; for, altho' there is good, solid stonework +in the walls, the whole has been washed a foolish, Philistine white. The +Romanesque of the architectural is said to be of particular interest to +connoisseurs, and the queer archaic capitals must certainly attract the +notice even of ordinary tourists.... + +It is also worth while to go to the Helmhaus, and examine the collection +of lake-dwelling remains. In fact, there is a delightful little model of +a lake-dwelling itself, and an appliance to show you how those primitive +people could make holes in their stone implements, before they knew the +use of metals. The ancient guild houses of Zurich are worth a special +study. Take, for instance, that of the "Zimmerleute," or carpenter with +its supporting arches and little peaked tower; or the so-called "Waag," +with frescoed front; then the great wainscoated and paneled hall of the +"schmieden" (smiths); and the rich Renaissance stonework of the "Maurer" +(masons). These buildings, alas, with the decay of the system which +produced them, have been obliged to put up big signs of Cafe Restaurant +upon their historic facades, like so many vulgar, modern eating-houses. + +The Rathhaus, or Town Hall, too, is charming. It stands, like the +Wasserkirche, with one side in the water and the other against the quay. +The style is a sort of reposeful Italian Renaissance, that is florid +only in the best artistic sense. Nor must you miss the so-called +"Rueden," nearby, for its sloping roof and painted walls give it a very +captivating look of alert picturesqueness, and it contains a large +collection of Pestalozzi souvenirs. + +Zurich has more than one claim to the world's recognition; but no +department of its active life, perhaps, merits such unstinted praise as +its educational facilities. First and foremost, the University, with +four faculties, modeled upon the German system, but retaining certain +distinctive traits that are essentially Swiss--for instance, the broad +and liberal treatment accorded to women students, who are admitted as +freely as men, and receive the same instruction. A great number of +Russian girls are always to be seen in Zurich, as at other Swiss +universities, working unremittingly to acquire the degrees which +they are denied at home. Not a few American women also have availed +themselves of these facilities, especially for the study of medicine.... + +Zurich is, at the present time, undoubtedly the most important +commercial city in Switzerland, having distanced both Basel and Geneva +in this direction. The manufacturing of silk, woolen, and linen fabrics +has flourished here since the end of the thirteenth century. In modern +times, however, cotton and machinery have been added as staple articles +of manufacture. Much of the actual weaving is still done in outlying +parts of the Canton, in the very cottages of the peasants, so that +the click of the loom is heard from open windows in every village and +hamlet. + +But modern industrial processes are tending continually to drive the +weavers from their homes into great centralized factories, and every +year this inevitable change becomes more apparent. It is certainly +remarkable that Zurich should succeed in turning out cheap and good +machinery, when we remember that every ton of coal and iron has to be +imported, since Switzerland possesses not a single mine, either of the +one or the other. + + +THE RIGI[36] + +BY W.D. M'CRACKAN + +If you really want to know how the Swiss Confederation came to be, you +can not do better than take the train to the top of the Rigi. You might +stumble through many a volume, and not learn so thoroughly the essential +causes of this national birth. + +Of course, the eye rests first upon the phalanx of snow-crests to the +south, then down upon the lake, lying outstretched like some wriggling +monster, switching its tail, and finally off to the many places where +early Swiss history was made. In point of fact, you are looking at quite +a large slice of Switzerland. Victor Hugo seized the meaning of this +view when he wrote: "It is a serious hour, and full of meditations, when +one has Switzerland thus under the eyes." ... + +The physical features of a country have their counterparts in its +political institutions. In Switzerland the great mountain ranges divide +the territory into deep valleys, each of which naturally forms a +political unit--the Commune. Here is a miniature world, concentrated +into a small space, and representing the sum total of life to its +inhabitants. Self-government becomes second nature under these +conditions. A sort of patriarchal democracy is evolved: that is, certain +men and certain families are apt to maintain themselves at the head +of public affairs, but with the consent and cooperation of the whole +population. + +There is hardly a spot associated with the rise of the Swiss +Confederation whose position can not be determined from the Rigi. The +two Tell's chapels; the Ruetli; the villages of Schwiz, Altdorf, Brunnen, +Beckenried, Stans, and Sarnen; the battlefields of Morgarten and +Sempach; and on a clear day the ruined castle of Hapsburg itself, lie +within a mighty circle at one's feet. + +It was preordained that the three lands of Uri, Schwiz, and Unterwalden +should unite for protection of common interests against the encroachment +of a common enemy--the ambitious house of Hapsburg. The lake formed at +once a bond and a highway between them. On the first day of August, +1291, more than six hundred years ago, a group of unpretentious +patriots, ignored by the great world, signed a document which formed +these lands into a loose Confederation. By this act they laid the +foundation upon which the Swiss state was afterward reared. In their +naive, but prophetic, faith, the contracting parties called this +agreement a perpetual pact; and they set forth, in the Latin, legal +phraseology of the day, that, seeing the malice of the times, they found +it necessary to take an oath to defend one another against outsiders, +and to keep order within their boundaries; at the same time carefully +stating that the object of the league was to maintain lawfully +established conditions. + +From small beginnings, the Confederation of Uri, Schwiz, and Unterwalden +grew, by the addition of other communities, until it reached its present +proportions, of twenty-two Cantons, in 1815. Lucerne was the first to +join; then came Zurich, Glarus, Zug, Bern, etc. The early Swiss did not +set up a sovereign republic, in our acceptation of the word, either in +internal or external policy. The class distinctions of the feudal age +continued to exist; and they by no means disputed the supreme rule of +the head of the German Empire over them, but rather gloried in the +protection which this direct dependence afforded them against a +multitude of intermediate, preying nobles. + + +CHAMOUNI--AN AVALANCHE[37] + +BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY + +From Servoz three leagues remain to Chamouni--Mont Blanc was before +us--the Alps, with their innumerable glaciers on high all around, +closing in the complicated windings of the single vale--forests +inexpressibly beautiful, but majestic in their beauty--intermingled +beech and pine, and oak, overshadowed our road, or receded, while lawns +of such verdure as I have never seen before occupied these openings, and +gradually became darker in their recesses. Mont Blanc was before us, but +it was covered with cloud; its base, furrowed with dreadful gaps, was +seen above. Pinnacles of snow intolerably bright, part of the chain +connected with Mont Blanc, shone through the clouds at intervals on +high. I never knew--I never imagined--what mountains were before. + +The immensity of these aerial summits excited, when they suddenly burst +upon the sight, a sentiment of ecstatic wonder, not unallied to madness. +And, remember, this was all one scene, it all prest home to our regard +and our imagination. Tho' it embraced a vast extent of space, the snowy +pyramids which shot into the bright blue sky seemed to overhang our +path; the ravine, clothed with gigantic pines, and black with its depth +below, so deep that the very roaring of the untameable Arve, which +rolled through it, could not be heard above--all was as much our own, as +if we had been the creators of such impressions in the minds of others +as now occupied our own. Nature was the poet, whose harmony held our +spirits more breathless than that of the divinest. + +As we entered the valley of the Chamouni (which, in fact, may be +considered as a continuation of those which we have followed from +Bonneville and Cluses), clouds hung upon the mountains at the distance +perhaps of 6,000 feet from the earth, but so as effectually to conceal +not only Mont Blanc, but the other "aiguilles," as they call them here, +attached and subordinate to it. We were traveling along the valley, when +suddenly we heard a sound as the burst of smothered thunder rolling +above; yet there was something in the sound that told us it could not +be thunder. Our guide hastily pointed out to us a part of the mountain +opposite, from whence the sound came. It was an avalanche. We saw the +smoke of its path among the rocks, and continued to hear at intervals +the bursting of its fall. It fell on the bed of a torrent, which it +displaced, and presently we saw its tawny-colored waters also spread +themselves over the ravine, which was their couch. + +We did not, as we intended, visit the Glacier des Bossons to-day, altho +it descends within a few minutes' walk of the road, wishing to survey it +at least when unfatigued. We saw this glacier, which comes close to the +fertile plain, as we passed. Its surface was broken into a thousand +unaccountable figures; conical and pyramidical crystallizations, more +than fifty feet in height, rise from its surface, and precipices of ice, +of dazzling splendor, overhang the woods and meadows of the vale. This +glacier winds upward from the valley, until it joins the masses of frost +from which it was produced above, winding through its own ravine like a +bright belt flung over the black region of pines. + +There is more in all these scenes than mere magnitude of proportion; +there is a majesty of outline; there is an awful grace in the very +colors which invest these wonderful shapes--a charm which is peculiar +to them, quite distinct even from the reality of their unutterable +greatness. + + +ZERMATT[38] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +Those who would reach the very heart of the Alps and look upon a scene +of unparalleled grandeur must go into the Valais to Zermatt. + +[Illustration: PONTRESINA IN THE ENGADINE] + +[Illustration: ST. MORITZ IN THE ENGADINE] + +[Illustration: FRIBOURG] + +[Illustration: BERNE] + +[Illustration: VIVEY ON LAKE GENEVA] + +[Illustration: THE TURNHALLE IN ZURICH Courtesy Swiss Federal Railway] + +[Illustration: INTERLAKEN] + +[Illustration: LUCERNE] + +[Illustration: VIADUCTS On the new Loetschberg route to the Simplon +tunnel] + +[Illustration: WOLFORT VIADUCT On the Pilatus Railroad, Switzerland] + +[Illustration: THE BALMAT-SAUSSURE MONUMENT IN CHAMONIX (Mont Blanc in +the distance)] + +[Illustration: ROOFED WOODEN BRIDGE AT LUCERNE] + +[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF CHILLON] + +[Illustration: CLOUD EFFECT ABOVE INTERLAKEN Courtesy Swiss Federal +Railway] + +[Illustration: DAVOS IN WINTER] + +The way up the valley is that which follows the River Visp. It is a +delightful journey. The little stream is never still. It will scarcely +keep confined to the banks or within the stone walls which in many +places protect the shores. The river dances along as if seeking to be +free. For the most part it is a torrent, sweeping swiftly past the +solid masonry and descending the steep bed in a series of wild leaps or +artificial waterfalls, with wonderful effects of sunlight seen in the +showers of spray. Fed as it is by many mountain streams, the Visp is +always full, and the more so, when in summer the melting ice adds to its +volume. + +Then it is a sight long remembered, as roaring, rollicking, rushing +along it is a brawling mass of waters, often working havoc with banks, +road, village, and pastures. If one never saw a mountain, the sight of +the Visp would more than repay, but, as it is, one's attention is taxed +to the uttermost not to miss anything of this little rushing river and +at the same time get the charming views of the Weisshorn, the Breithorn, +and the other snow summits which appear over the mountain spurs +surrounding the head of the valley. + +The first impression on reaching the Zermatt is one of disappointment. +Maps and pictures generally lead the traveler to think that from the +village he will see the great semicircle of snow peaks which surround +the valley, but upon arrival he finds that he must go further up to see +them, for all of them are hidden from view except the Matterhorn. + +This mountain, however, is seen in all its grandeur, fierce and +frowning, and to an imaginative mind bending forward as if threatening +and trying to shake off the little snow that appears here and there on +its side. It dominates the whole scene and leaves an indelible impress +on the mind, so that one can never picture Zermatt without the +Matterhorn. + +Zermatt as a place is a curious combination; a line of hotels in +juxtaposition with a village of chalets, unsophisticated peasants +shoulder to shoulder with people of fashion! There are funny little +shops, here showing only such simple things as are needed by the +dwellers in the Valais, there exhibiting really beautiful articles in +dress and jewelry to attract the summer visitors, while at convenient +spots are the inevitable tea-rooms, where "The, Cafe, Limonade, +Confiserie" minister to the coming crowds of an afternoon.... + +Guides galore wait in front of all the large hotels; ice-axes, ropes, +nailed boots, rucksacks, and all the paraphernalia of the mountains +are seen on every side, and a walk along the one main thoroughfare +introduces one into the life of a climbing center, interesting to a +degree and often very amusing from the miscellaneous collection of +people there. + +Perhaps the first thing one cares to see at Zermatt is the village +church, with the adjoining churchyard. The church, dedicated to Saint +Maurice, a favorite saint in the Valais and Rhone district, is plain +but interesting and in parts is quite old. Near it is a little mortuary +chapel. In most parts of Switzerland, it is the custom, after the bodies +of the dead have been buried a certain length of time, to remove the +remains to the "charnel house," allowing the graves to be used again +and thus not encroaching upon the space reserved and consecrated in the +churchyard, but we do not think this custom obtains at Zermatt. + +In the churchyard is a monument to Michel Auguste Croz, the guide, and +near by are the graves of the Reverend Charles Hudson and Mr. Hadow. +These three, with Lord Francis Douglas were killed in Mr. Whymper's +first ascent of the Matterhorn.[39] The body of Lord Francis Douglas +has never been found. It is probably deep in some crevasse or under the +snows which surround the base of the Matterhorn.... + +For the more extended climbs or for excursions in the direction of the +Schwarzsee, the Staffel Alp or the Trift, Zermatt is the starting point. +The place abounds in walks, most of them being the first part of the +routes to the high mountains, so that those who are fond of tramping but +not of climbing can reach high elevations with a little hard work, but +no great difficulty. Some of these "midway" places may be visited on +muleback, and with the railway now up to the Gorner-Grat there are few +persons who may not see this wonderful region of snow peaks. + +The trip to the Schwarzsee is the first stage on the Matterhorn route. +It leads through the village, past the Gorner Gorges (which one may +visit by a slight detour) and then enters some very pretty woods, from +which one issues on to the bare green meadows which clothe the upper +part of the steep slope of the mountain. As one mounts this zigzag path, +it sometimes seems as if it would never end, and for all the magnificent +views which it affords, one is always glad that it is over, as it +exactly fulfils the conditions of a "grind." + +From the Schwarzsee (8,495 feet, where there is an excellent hotel), +there is a fine survey of the Matterhorn, and also a splendid panorama, +on three sides, one view up the glaciers toward the Monte Rosa, another +over the valley to the Dent Blanche and other great peaks, and still +another to the far distant Bernese Oberland. Near the hotel is a little +lake and a tiny chapel, where mass is sometimes said. The reflection in +the still waters of the lake is very lovely. + +From the Schwarzsee, trips are made to the Hoernli (another stage on the +way to the Matterhorn), to the Gandegg Hut, across moraine and glacier +and to the Staffel Alp, over the green meadows. The Hoernli (9,490 feet +high) is the ridge running out from the Matterhorn. It is reached by a +stiff climb over rocks and a huge heap of fallen stones and debris. From +it the view is similar to that from the Schwarzsee, but much finer, the +Theodule Glacier being seen to great advantage. Above the Hoernli towers +the Matterhorn, huge, fierce, frowning, threatening. Every few moments +comes a heavy, muffled sound, as new showers of falling stones come +down. This is one of the main dangers in climbing the peak itself, for +from base to summit, the Matterhorn is really a decaying mountain, the +stones rolling away through the action of the storms, the frosts, and +the sun. + + +PONTRESINA AND ST. MORITZ[40] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +The night was falling fine as dust, as a black sifted snow-shower, a +snow made of shadow; and the melancholy of the landscape, the grand +nocturnal solitude of these lofty, unknown regions, had a charm profound +and disquieting. I do not know why I fancied myself no longer in +Switzerland, but in some country near the pole, in Sweden or Norway. At +the foot of these bare mountains I looked for wild fjords, lit up by the +moon. + +Nothing can express the profound somberness of these landscapes at +nightfall; the long desert road, gray from the reflections of the starry +sky, unrolls in an interminable ribbon along the depth of the valley; +the treeless mountains, hollowed out like ancient craters, lift their +overhanging precipices; lakes sleeping in the midst of the pastures, +behind curtains of pines and larches, glitter like drops of quicksilver; +and on the horizon the immense glaciers crowd together and overflow like +sheets of foam on a frozen sea. + +The road ascends. From the distance comes a dull noise, the roaring of a +torrent. We cross a little cluster of trees, and on issuing from it the +superb amphitheater of glaciers shows itself anew, overlooked by one +white point glittering like an opal. On the hill a thousand little +lights show me that I am at last at Pontresina. I thought I should +never have arrived there; nowhere does night deceive more than in the +mountains; in proportion as you advance toward a point, it seems to +retreat from you. + +Soon the black fantastic lines of the houses show through the darkness. +I enter a narrow street, formed of great gloomy buildings, their fronts +like a convent or prison. The hamlet is transformed into a little town +of hotels, very comfortable, very elegant, very dear, but very stupid +and very vulgar, with their laced porter in an admiral's hat, and their +whiskered waiters, who have the air of Anglican ministers. Oh! how I +detest them, and flee them, those hotels where the painter, or the +tourist who arrives on foot, knapsack on his back and staff in hand, his +trousers tucked into his leggings, his flask slung over his shoulder, +and his hat awry, is received with less courtesy than a lackey. + +Besides those hotels, some of which are veritable palaces, and where the +ladies are almost bound to change their dress three times a day, there +is a hotel of the second and third class; and there is the old inn; the +comfortable, hospitable, patriarchal inn, with its Gothic signboard.... + +On leaving the village I was again in the open mountain. In the distance +the road penetrated into the valley, rising always. The moon had risen. +She stood out sharply cut in a cloudless sky, and stars sparkling +everywhere in profusion; not like nails of gold, but sown broadcast like +a flying dust, a dust of carbuncles and diamonds. To the right, in the +depths of the amphitheater of the mountains, an immense glacier looked +like a frozen cascade; and above, a perfectly white peak rose draped in +snow, like some legendary king in his mantle of silver. + +Bending under my knapsack, and dragging my feet, I arrive at last at the +hotel, where I am received, in the kindest manner in the world, by the +two mistresses of the establishment, two sisters of open, benevolent +countenance and of sweet expression. + +And the poor little traveler who arrives, his bag on his back and +without bustle, who has sent neither letter nor telegram to announce his +arrival, is the object of the kindest and most delicate attentions; his +clothes are brushed, he gets water for his refreshment, and is then +conducted to a table bountifully spread, in a dining-room fragrant with +good cookery and bouquets of flowers.... + +Beyond Campfer, its houses surrounding a third little lake, we come +suddenly on a scene of extraordinary animation. All the cosmopolitan +society of St. Moritz is there, sauntering, walking, running, in +mountain parties, on afternoon excursions. The favorite one is the walk +to the pretty lake of Campfer, with its shady margin, its resting places +hidden among the branches, its chalet-restaurant, from the terrace of +which one overlooks the whole valley; and it would be difficult to find +near St. Moritz a more interesting spot. + +We meet at every step parties of English ladies, looking like +plantations of umbrellas with their covers on and surmounted by immense +straw hats; then there are German ladies, massive as citadels, but +not impregnable, asking nothing better than to surrender to the young +exquisites, with the figure of cuirassiers, who accompany them; further +on, lively Italian ladies parade themselves in dresses of the carnival, +the colors outrageously striking and dazzling to the eyes; with +up-turned skirts they cross the Inn on great mossy stones, leaping +with the grace of birds, and smiling, to show, into the bargain, the +whiteness of their teeth. All this crowd passing in procession before us +is composed of men and women of every age and condition; some with the +grave face of a waxen saint, others beaming with the satisfied smile of +rich people; there are also invalids, who go along hobbling and limping, +or who are drawn, in little carriages. + +Soon handsome facades, pierced with hundreds of windows, show themselves +in the grand and severe setting of mountains and glaciers. It is St. +Moritz-les-Bains. Here every house is a hotel, and, as every hotel is +a little palace, we do not alight from the diligence; we go a little +farther and a little higher, to St. Moritz-le-Village, which has a much +more beautiful situation. It is at the top of a little hill, whose sides +slope down to a pretty lake, fresh and green as a lawn. The eye reaches +beyond Sils, the whole length of the valley, with its mountains like +embattled ramparts, its lakes like a great row of pearls, and its +glaciers showing their piles of snowy white against the azure depths of +the horizon. + +St. Moritz is the center of the valley of the Upper Engadine, which +extends to the length of eighteen or nineteen leagues, and which +scarcely possesses a thousand inhabitants. Almost all the men emigrate +to work for strangers, like their brothers, the mountaineers of Savoy +and Auvergne, and do not return till they have amassed a sufficient +fortune to allow them to build a little white house, with gilded +window frames, and to die quietly in the spot where they were born.... +Historians tell us that the first inhabitants of the Upper Engadine were +Etruscans and Latins chased from Italy by the Gauls and Carthaginians, +and taking refuge in these hidden altitudes. After the fall of the +Empire, the inhabitants of the Engadine fell under the dominion of the +Franks and Lombards, then the Dukes of Swabia; but the blood never +mingled--the type remained Italian; black hair, the quick eye, the +mobile countenance, the expressive features, and the supple figure. + + +GENEVA[41] + +BY FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE + +Straddling the Rhone, where it issues from the bluest lake in the world, +looking out upon green meadows and wooded hills, backed by the dark +ridge of the Saleve, with the "great white mountain" visible in the +distance, Geneva has the advantage of an incomparable site; and it +is, from a town surveyor's point of view, well built. It has wide +thoroughfares, quays, and bridges; gorgeous public monuments and +well-kept public gardens; handsome theaters and museums; long rows +of palatial hotels; flourishing suburbs; two railway-stations, and a +casino. But all this is merely the facade--all of it quite modern; +hardly any of it more than half a century old. The real historical +Geneva--the little of it that remains--is hidden away in the background, +where not every tourist troubles to look for it. It is disappearing +fast. Italian stonemasons are constantly engaged in driving lines +through it. They have rebuilt, for instance, the old Corraterie, which +is now the Regent Street of Geneva, famous for its confectioners' and +booksellers' shops; they have destroyed, and are still destroying, other +ancient slums, setting up white buildings of uniform ugliness in place +of the picturesque but insanitary dwellings of the past. It is, no +doubt, a very necessary reform, tho' one may think that it is being +executed in too utilitarian a spirit. The old Geneva was malodorous, and +its death-rate was high. They had more than one Great Plague there, and +their Great Fires have always left some of the worst of their slums +untouched. These could not be allowed to stand in an age which studies +the science and practises the art of hygiene. Yet the traveler who wants +to know what the old Geneva was really like must spend a morning or two +rambling among them before they are pulled down. + +The old Geneva, like Jerusalem, was set upon a hill, and it is toward +the top of the hill that the few buildings of historical interest are to +be found. There is the cathedral--a striking object from a distance, tho' +the interior is hideously bare. There is the Town Hall, in which, for +the convenience of notables carried in litters, the upper stories were +reached by an inclined plane instead of a staircase. There is Calvin's +old Academy, bearing more than a slight resemblance to certain of the +smaller colleges at Oxford and Cambridge. There, too, are to be seen a +few mural tablets, indicating the residences of past celebrities. In +such a house Rousseau was born; in such another house or in an older +house, now demolished, on the same site--Calvin died. And toward these +central points the steep and narrow, mean streets--in many cases streets +of stairs--converge. + +As one plunges into these streets one seems to pass back from the +twentieth century to the fifteenth, and need not exercise one's +imagination very severely in order to picture the town as it appeared +in the old days before the Reformation. The present writer may claim +permission to borrow his own description from the pages of "Lake Geneva +and its Literary Landmarks:" + +"Narrow streets predominated, tho' there were also a certain number of +open spaces--notably at the markets, and in front of the Cathedral, +where there was a traffic in those relics and rosaries which Geneva was +presently to repudiate with virtuous indignation. One can form an idea +of the appearance of the narrow streets by imagining the oldest houses +that one has seen in Switzerland all closely packed together--houses at +the most three stories high, with gabled roofs, ground-floors a step or +two below the level of the roadway, and huge arched doors studded with +great iron nails, and looking strong enough to resist a battering-ram. +Above the doors, in the case of the better houses, were the painted +escutcheons of the residents, and crests were also often blazoned on the +window-panes. The shops, too, and more especially the inns, flaunted +gaudy signboards with ingenious devices. The Good Vinegar, the Hot +Knife, the Crowned Ox, were the names of some of these; their tariff is +said to have been fivepence a day for man and beast.".... + +In the first half of the sixteenth century occurred the two events +which shaped the future of Geneva; Reformation theology was accepted; +political independence was achieved. Geneva it should be explained, was +the fief of the duchy of Savoy; or so, at all events, the Dukes of Savoy +maintained, tho' the citizens were of the contrary opinion. Their view +was that they owed allegiance only to their Bishops, who were the +Viceroys of the Holy Roman Emperor; and even that allegiance was limited +by the terms of a Charter granted in the Holy Roman Emperor's name by +Bishop Adhemar de Fabri. All went fairly well until the Bishops began +to play into the hands of the Dukes; but then there was friction, +which rapidly became acute. A revolutionary party--the Eidgenossen, or +Confederates--was formed. There was a Declaration of Independence and a +civil war. + +So long as the Genevans stood alone, the Duke was too strong for them. +He marched into the town in the style of a conqueror, and wreaked his +vengeance on as many of his enemies as he could catch. He cut off the +head of Philibert Berthelier, to whom there stands a memorial on the +island in the Rhone; he caused Jean Pecolat to be hung up in an absurd +posture in his banqueting-hall, in order that he might mock at his +discomfort while he dined; he executed, with or without preliminary +torture, several less conspicuous patriots. Happily, however, some of +the patriots--notably Besancon Hugues--got safely away, and succeeded in +concluding treaties of alliance between Geneva and the cantons of Berne +and Fribourg. + +The men of Fribourg marched to Geneva, and the Duke retired. The +citizens passed a resolution that he should never be allowed to enter +the town again, seeing that he "never came there without playing the +citizens some dirty trick or other;" and, the more effectually to +prevent him from coming, they pulled down their suburbs and repaired +their ramparts, one member of every household being required to lend a +hand for the purpose. + +Presently, owing to religious dissensions, Fribourg withdrew from the +alliance. Berne, however, adhered to it, and, in due course, responded +to the appeal for help by setting an army of seven thousand men in +motion. The route of the seven thousand lay through the canton of Vaud, +then a portion of the Duke's dominions, governed from the Castle of +Chillon. Meeting with no resistance save at Yverdon, they annexed the +territory, placing governors of their own in its various strongholds. +The Governor of Chillon fled, leaving his garrison to surrender; and in +its deepest dungeon was found the famous prisoner of Chillon, Francois +de Bonivard. From that time forward Geneva was a free republic, owing +allegiance to no higher power. + + +THE CASTLE OF CHILLON[42] + +BY HARRIET BEECHER STOWE + +Here I am, sitting at my window, overlooking Lake Leman. Castle Chillon, +with its old conical towers, is silently pictured in the still waters. +It has been a day of a thousand. We took a boat, with two oarsmen, and +passed leisurely along the shores, under the cool, drooping branches of +trees, to the castle, which is scarce a stone's throw from the hotel. We +rowed along, close under the walls, to the ancient moat and drawbridge. +There I picked a bunch of blue bells, "les clochettes," which were +hanging their aerial pendants from every crevice--some blue, some +white.... + +We rowed along, almost touching the castle rock, where the wall ascends +perpendicularly, and the water is said to be a thousand feet deep. We +passed the loopholes that illuminate the dungeon vaults, and an old +arch, now walled up, where prisoners, after having been strangled, were +thrown into the lake. + +Last evening we walked through the castle. An interesting Swiss woman, +who has taught herself English for the benefit of her visitors, was our +"cicerone." She seemed to have all the old Swiss vivacity of attachment +for "liberte et patrie." She took us first into the dungeon, with the +seven pillars, described by Byron. There was the pillar to which, for +protecting the liberty of Geneva, Bonivard was chained. There the Duke +of Savoy kept him for six years, confined by a chain four feet long. He +could take only three steps, and the stone floor is deeply worn by the +prints of those weary steps. Six years is so easily said; but to live +them, alone, helpless, a man burning with all the fires of manhood, +chained to that pillar of stone, and those three unvarying steps! Two +thousand one hundred and ninety days rose and set the sun, while seed +time and harvest, winter and summer, and the whole living world went +on over his grave. For him no sun, no moon, no stars, no business, no +friendship, no plans--nothing! The great millstone of life emptily +grinding itself away! + +What a power of vitality was there in Bonivard, that he did not sink in +lethargy, and forget himself to stone! But he did not; it is said that +when the victorious Swiss army broke in to liberate him, they cried, + +"Bonivard, you are free!" + +"And Geneva?" + +"Geneva is free also!" + +You ought to have heard the enthusiasm with which our guide told this +story! + +Near by are the relics of the cell of a companion of Bonivard, who made +an ineffectual attempt to liberate him. On the wall are still seen +sketches of saints and inscriptions by his hand. This man one day +overcame his jailer, locked him in his cell, ran into the hall above, +and threw himself from a window into the lake, struck a rock, and was +killed instantly. One of the pillars in this vault is covered with +names. I think it is Bonivard's pillar. There are the names of Byron, +Hunt, Schiller, and many other celebrities. + +After we left the dungeons we went up into the judgment hall, where +prisoners were tried, and then into the torture chamber. Here are the +pulleys by which limbs are broken; the beam, all scorched with the irons +by which feet were burned; the oven where the irons were heated; and +there was the stone where they were sometimes laid to be strangled, +after the torture. On that stone, our guide told us, two thousand Jews, +men, women, and children, had been put to death. There was also, high +up, a strong beam across, where criminals were hung; and a door, now +walled up, by which they were thrown into the lake. I shivered. +"'Twas cruel," she said; "'twas almost as cruel as your slavery in +America."[43] + +Then she took us into a tower where was the "oubliette." Here the +unfortunate prisoner was made to kneel before an image of the Virgin, +while the treacherous floor, falling beneath him, precipitated him into +a well forty feet deep, where he was left to die of broken limbs and +starvation. Below this well was still another pit, filled with knives, +into which, when they were disposed to a merciful hastening of the +torture, they let him fall. The woman has been herself to the bottom of +the first dungeon, and found there bones of victims. The second pit is +now walled up.... + +To-night, after sunset, we rowed to Byron's "little isle," the only one +in the lake. O, the unutterable beauty of these mountains--great, purple +waves, as if they had been dashed up by a mighty tempest, crested +with snow-like foam! this purple sky, and crescent moon, and the lake +gleaming and shimmering, and twinkling stars, while far off up the sides +of a snow-topped mountain a light shines like a star--some mountaineer's +candle, I suppose. + +In the dark stillness we rode again over to Chillon, and paused under +its walls. The frogs were croaking in the moat, and we lay rocking on +the wave, and watching the dusky outlines of the towers and turrets. +Then the spirit of the scene seemed to wrap me round like a cloak. Back +to Geneva again. This lovely place will ever leave its image on my +heart. Mountains embrace it. + + +BY RAIL UP THE GORNER-GRAT[44] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +To see the splendid array of snow peaks and glaciers which makes the sky +line above Zermatt, one must leave the valley and walk or climb to a +higher level. An ideal spot for this is the Hotel Riffel Alp. Both the +situation and the Hotel outrival and surpass any similar places in the +Alps. "Far from the madding crowd," on a little plateau bounded by pines +and pastures stands the Hotel, some two thousand feet above Zermatt +and at an altitude of over 7,000 feet. The outlook is superb, the air +splendid, the quiet most restful. Two little churches, the one for Roman +Catholics, the other for members of the Church of England minister to +the spiritual needs of the visitors and stamp religion upon a situation +grand and sublime. + +Those who come here are lovers of the mountains who enjoy the open life. +It is a place not so much for "les grands excursions" as for long walks, +easy climbs and the beginnings of mountaineering. Many persons spend the +entire day out, preferring to eat their dejeuner "informally," perched +above some safe precipice, or on a glacier-bordered rock or in the shade +of the cool woods, but there are always some who linger both morning and +afternoon on the terrace with its far expanse of view, with the bright +sunshine streaming down upon them. + +One great charm of the Riffel Alp is the proximity to the snow. An hour +will bring one either to the Gorner Glacier or to the Findelen Glacier, +while a somewhat longer time will lead to other stretches of snow and +ice, where the climber may sit and survey the seracs and crevasses or +walk about on the great frozen rivers. This is said to be beneficial to +the nervous system as many physicians maintain that the glaciers contain +a large amount of radium. + +Before essaying any of the longer or harder trips however, the traveler +first of all generally goes to the Gorner-Grat, the rocky ridge that +runs up from Zermatt to a point 10,290 feet high. Many people still walk +up, but since the railroad was built, even those who feel it to be a +matter of conscience to inveigh against any kind of progress which +ministers to the pleasures of the masses, are found among those who +prefer to ascend by electricity. The trip up is often made very amusing +as among the crowds are always some, who knowing really nothing of the +place, feel it incumbent upon themselves to point out all of the peaks, +in a way quite discomposing to anybody familiar with the locality or +versed in geography! Quite a luxurious little hotel now surmounts the +top of the Gorner-Grat. In it, about it and above it, on the walled +terrace assembles a motley crowd every clear day in summer, clad in +every variety of costume, conventional and unconventional.... + +An ordinary scene would be ruined by such a crowd, but not so the +Gorner-Grat. The very majesty and magnificence of the view make +one forget the vaporings of mere man, and the Glory of God, so +overpoweringly revealed in those regions of perpetual snow, drives other +impressions away. And if one wishes to be alone, it is easily possible +by walking a little further along the ridge where some rock will shut +out all sight of man and the wind will drive away the sound of voices. + +It is doubtful if there is any view comparable with that of the +Gorner-Grat. There is what is called a "near view," and there is also +what is known as a "distant view," for completely surrounded by snow +peak and glacier, the eye passes from valley to summit, resting on that +wonderful stretch of shining white which forms the skyline. To say that +one can count dozens of glaciers, that he can see fifty summits, that +Monte Rosa, the Lyskamm, the Twins, the Breithorn, the Matterhorn, the +Dent Blanche, the Weisshorn, with many other mountains of the Valais +and Oberland form a complete circle of snow peaks, may establish the +geography of the place but it does not convey any but the faintest +picture of the sublime grandeur of the scene.... + +An exciting experience for novices is to go with a guide from the +Gorner-Grat to the Hohtaeligrat and thence down to the Findelen Glacier. +It looks dangerous but it is not really so, if the climber is careful, +for altho there is a sheer descent on either side of the arete or ridge +which leads from the one point to the other, the way is never narrow and +only over easy rocks and snow. + +The Hohtaeligrat is almost 11,000 feet in altitude and has a splendid +survey of the sky line. One looks up at snow, one looks down at snow, +one looks around at snow! From the beautiful summits of Monte Rosa, the +eye passes in a complete circle, up and down, seeing in succession the +white snow peaks, with their great glistening glaciers below, showing in +strong contrast the occasional rock pyramids like the Matterhorn and the +group around the Rothhorn. + + +THROUGH THE ST. GOTHARD INTO ITALY[45] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +This is Geschenen, at the entrance of the great tunnel, the meeting +place of the upper gorges of the Reuss, the valley of Urseren, of the +Oberalp, and of the Furka. Geschenen has now the calm tranquility of old +age. But during the nine years that it took to bore the great tunnel, +what juvenile activity there was here, what feverish eagerness in this +village, crowded, inundated, overflowed by workmen from Italy, from +Tessin, from Germany and France! One would have thought that out of that +dark hole, dug out in the mountain, they were bringing nuggets of gold. + +On all the roads nothing was to be seen but bands of workmen arriving, +with miners' lamps hung to their old soldier's knapsacks. Nobody could +tell how they were all to be lodged. One double bed was occupied in +succession by twenty-four men in twenty-four hours. Some of the workmen +set up their establishments in barns; in all directions movable canteens +sprung up, built all awry and hardly holding together, and in mean +sheds, doubtful, bad-looking places, the dishonest merchant hastened to +sell his adulterated brandy.... + +The St. Gothard tunnel is about one and two-third miles longer than that +of Mount Cenis, and more than three miles longer than that of Arlberg. +While the train is passing with a dull rumbling sound under these +gloomy vaults, let us explain how the great work of boring the Alps was +accomplished. + +The mechanical work of perforation was begun simultaneously on the north +and south sides of the mountain, working toward the same point, so as to +meet toward the middle of the boring. The waters of the Reuss and the +Tessin supplied the necessary motive power for working the screws +attached to machinery for compressing the air. The borers applied to the +rock the piston of a cylinder made to rotate with great rapidity by the +pressure of air reduced to one-twentieth of its ordinary volume; then +when they had made holes sufficiently deep, they withdrew the machines +and charged the mines with dynamite. Immediately after the explosion, +streams of wholesome air were liberated which dissipated the smoke; then +the debris was cleared away, and the borers returned to their place. The +same work was thus carried on day and night, for nine years. + +On the Geschenen side all went well; but on the other side, on the +Italian slope, unforseen obstacles and difficulties had to be overcome. +Instead of having to encounter the solid rock, they found themselves +among a moving soil formed by the deposit of glaciers and broken by +streams of water. Springs burst out, like the jet of a fountain, under +the stroke of the pick, flooding and driving away the workmen. For +twelve months they seemed to be in the midst of a lake. But nothing +could damp the ardor of the contractor, Favre. + +His troubles were greater still when the undertaking had almost been +suspended for want of money, when the workmen struck in 1875, and, when, +two years later, the village of Arola was destroyed by fire. And how +many times, again and again, the mason-work of the vaulted roof gave way +and fell! Certain "bad places," as they were called, cost more than nine +hundred pounds per yard. + +In the interior of the mountain the thermometer marked 86 degrees +(Fahr.), but so long as the tunnel was still not completely bored, the +workmen were sustained by a kind of fever, and made redoubled efforts. +Discouragement and desertion did not appear among them till the goal was +almost reached. + +The great tunnel passed, we find ourselves fairly in Italy. The mulberry +trees, with silky white bark and delicate, transparent leaves; the +chestnuts, with enormous trunks like cathedral columns; the vine, +hanging to high trellises supported by granite pillars, its festoons as +capricious as the feats of those who partake too freely of its fruits; +the white tufty heads of the maize tossing in the breeze; all that +strong and luxuriant vegetation through which waves of moist air are +passing; those flowers of rare beauty, of a grace and brilliancy that +belong only to privileged zones;--all this indicates a more robust and +fertile soil, and a more fervid sky than those of the upper villages +which we have just left. + + + +X + +ALPINE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING + +FIRST ATTEMPTS HALF A CENTURY AGO[46] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +On the 23d of July, 1860, I started for my first tour of the Alps. At +Zermatt I wandered in many directions, but the weather was bad and my +work was much retarded. One day, after spending a long time in attempts +to sketch near the Hoernli, and in futile endeavors to seize the forms +of the peaks as they for a few seconds peered out from above the dense +banks of woolly clouds, I determined not to return to Zermatt by the +usual path, but to cross the Goerner glacier to the Riffel hotel. After +a rapid scramble over the polished rocks and snow-beds which skirt the +base of the Theodule glacier, and wading through some of the streams +which flow from it, at that time much swollen by the late rains, the +first difficulty was arrived at, in the shape of a precipice about +three hundred feet high. It seemed that there would be no difficulty in +crossing the glacier if the cliff could be descended, but higher up and +lower down the ice appeared, to my inexperienced eyes, to be impassable +for a single person. + +The general contour of the cliff was nearly perpendicular, but it was a +good deal broken up, and there was little difficulty in descending by +zigzagging from one mass to another. At length there was a long slab, +nearly smooth, fixt at an angle of about forty degrees between two +wall-sided pieces of rock; nothing, except the glacier, could be seen +below. It was a very awkward place, but being doubtful if return were +possible, as I had been dropping from one ledge to another, I passed at +length by lying across the slab, putting the shoulder stiffly against +one side and the feet against the other, and gradually wriggling down, +by first moving the legs and then the back. When the bottom of the slab +was gained a friendly crack was seen, into which the point of the baton +could be stuck, and I dropt down to the next piece. + +It took a long time coming down that little bit of cliff, and for a few +seconds it was satisfactory to see the ice close at hand. In another +moment a second difficulty presented itself. The glacier swept round an +angle of the cliff, and as the ice was not of the nature of treacle or +thin putty, it kept away from the little bay on the edge of which I +stood. We were not widely separated, but the edge of the ice was higher +than the opposite edge of rock; and worse, the rock was covered with +loose earth and stones which had fallen from above. All along the side +of the cliff, as far as could be seen in both directions, the ice did +not touch it, but there was this marginal crevasse seven feet wide and +of unknown depth. All this was seen at a glance, and almost at once I +concluded that I could not jump the crevass and began to try along the +cliff lower down, but without success, for the ice rose higher and +higher until at last farther progress was stopt by the cliffs becoming +perfectly smooth. With an ax it would have been possible to cut up the +side of the ice--without one, I saw there was no alternative but to +return and face the jump. + +It was getting toward evening, and the solemn stillness of the High Alps +was broken only by the sound of rushing water or of falling rocks. If +the jump should be successful, well; if not, I fell into the horrible +chasm, to be frozen in, or drowned in that gurgling, rushing water. +Everything depended on that jump. Again I asked myself "Can it be +done?" It must be. So, finding my stick was useless, I threw it and the +sketch-book to the ice, and first retreating as far as possible, ran +forward with all my might, took the leap, barely reached the other side, +and fell awkwardly on my knees. At the same moment a shower of stones +fell on the spot from which I had jumped. + +The glacier was crossed without further trouble, but the Riffel, which +was then a very small building, was crammed with tourists, and could +not take me in. As the way down was unknown to me, some of the people +obligingly suggested getting a man at the chalets, otherwise the path +would be certainly lost in the forest. On arriving at the chalets no man +could be found, and the lights of Zermatt, shining through the trees, +seemed to say, "Never mind a guide, but come along down; we'll show you +the way"; so off I went through the forest, going straight toward them. +The path was lost in a moment, and was never recovered. I was tript up +by pine roots, I tumbled over rhododendron bushes, I fell over rocks. +The night was pitch-dark, and after a time the lights of Zermatt became +obscure or went out altogether. By a series of slides or falls, or +evolutions more or less disagreeable, the descent through the forest was +at length accomplished, but torrents of a formidable character had still +to be passed before one could arrive at Zermatt. I felt my way about for +hours, almost hopelessly, by an exhaustive process at last discovering a +bridge, and about midnight, covered with dirt and scratches, reentered +the inn which I had quitted in the morning.... + +I descended the valley, diverging from the path at Randa to mount the +slopes of the Dom (the highest of the Mischabelhoerner), in order to +see the Weisshorn face to face. The latter mountain is the noblest in +Switzerland, and from this direction it looks especially magnificent. On +its north there is a large snowy plateau that feeds the glacier of which +a portion is seen from Randa, and which on more than one occasion +has destroyed that village. From the direction of the Dom--that is, +immediately opposite--this Bies glacier seems to descend nearly +vertically; it does not do so, altho it is very steep. Its size is much +less than formerly and the lower portion, now divided into three tails, +clings in a strange, weird-like manner to the cliffs, to which it seems +scarcely possible that it can remain attached. + +Unwillingly I parted from the sight of this glorious mountain, and went +down to Visp. Arriving once more in the Rhone valley, I proceeded to +Viesch, and from thence ascended the Aeggischhorn, on which unpleasant +eminence I lost my way in a fog, and my temper shortly afterward. Then, +after crossing the Grimsel in a severe thunderstorm, I passed on to +Brienz, Interlachen and Berne, and thence to Fribourg and Morat, +Neuchatel, Martigny and the St. Bernard. The massive walls of the +convent were a welcome sight as I waded through the snow-beds near the +summit of the pass, and pleasant also was the courteous salutation of +the brother who bade me enter. + +Instead of descending to Aosta, I turned into the Val Pelline, in order +to obtain views of the Dent d'Erin. The night had come on before Biona +was gained, and I had to knock long and loud upon the door of the cure's +house before it was opened. An old woman with querulous voice and with a +large goitre answered the summons, and demanded rather sharply what was +wanted, but became pacific, almost good-natured, when a five-franc piece +was held in her face and she heard that lodging and supper were required +in exchange. + +My directions asserted that a passage existed from Prerayen, at the head +of this valley, to Breuil, in the Val Tournanche, and the old woman, +now convinced of my respectability, busied herself to find a guide. +Presently she introduced a native picturesquely attired in high-peaked +hat, braided jacket, scarlet waistcoat and indigo pantaloons, who agreed +to take me to the village of Val Tournanche. We set off early on the +next morning, and got to the summit of the pass without difficulty. It +gave me my first experience of considerable slopes of hard, steep snow, +and, like all beginners, I endeavored to prop myself up with my stick, +and kept it outside, instead of holding it between myself and the slope, +and leaning upon it, as should have been done. + +The man enlightened me, but he had, properly, a very small opinion of +his employer, and it is probably on that account that, a few minutes +after we had passed the summit, he said he would not go any farther and +would return to Biona. All argument was useless; he stood still, and to +everything that was said answered nothing but that he would go back. +Being rather nervous about descending some long snow-slopes which still +intervened between us and the head of the valley, I offered more pay, +and he went on a little way. Presently there were some cliffs, down +which we had to scramble. He called to me to stop, then shouted that he +would go back, and beckoned to me to come up. + +On the contrary, I waited for him to come down, but instead of doing so, +in a second or two he turned round, clambered deliberately up the cliff +and vanished. I supposed it was only a ruse to extort offers of more +money, and waited for half an hour, but he did not appear again. This +was rather embarrassing, for he carried off my knapsack. The choice of +action lay between chasing him and going on to Breuil, risking the loss +of my knapsack. I chose the latter course, and got to Breuil the same +evening. The landlord of the inn, suspicious of a person entirely +innocent of luggage, was doubtful if he could admit me, and eventually +thrust me into a kind of loft, which was already occupied by guides and +by hay. In later years we became good friends, and he did not hesitate +to give credit and even to advance considerable sums. + +My sketches from Breuil were made under difficulties; my materials +had been carried off, nothing better than fine sugar-paper could be +obtained, and the pencils seemed to contain more silica than plumbago. +However, they were made, and the pass was again crossed, this time +alone. By the following evening the old woman of Biona again produced +the faithless guide. The knapsack was recovered after the lapse of +several hours, and then I poured forth all the terms of abuse and +reproach of which I was master. The man smiled when I called him a liar, +and shrugged his shoulders when referred to as a thief, but drew his +knife when spoken of as a pig. + +The following night was spent at Cormayeur, and the day after I crossed +the Col Ferrex to Orsieres, and on the next the Tete Noir to Chamounix. +The Emperor Napoleon arrived the same day, and access to the Mer de +Glace was refused to tourists; but, by scrambling along the Plan +des Aiguilles, I managed to outwit the guards, and to arrive at the +Montanvert as the imperial party was leaving, failing to get to the +Jardin the same afternoon, but very nearly succeeding in breaking a leg +by dislodging great rocks on the moraine of the glacier. + +From Chamounix I went to Geneva, and thence by the Mont Cenis to Turin +and to the Vaudois valleys. A long and weary day had ended when Paesana +was reached. The next morning I passed the little lakes which are the +sources of the Po, on my way into France. The weather was stormy, and +misinterpreting the dialect of some natives--who in reality pointed out +the right way--I missed the track, and found myself under the cliffs of +Monte Viso. A gap that was occasionally seen in the ridge connecting it +with the mountains to the east tempted me up, and after a battle with a +snow-slope of excessive steepness, I reached the summit. The scene was +extraordinary, and, in my experience, unique. To the north there was not +a particle of mist, and the violent wind coming from that direction +blew one back staggering. But on the side of Italy the valleys were +completely filled with dense masses of cloud to a certain level; and +here--where they felt the influence of the wind--they were cut off as +level as the top of a table, the ridges appearing above them. + +I raced down to Abries, and went on through the gorge of the Guil to +Mont Dauphin. The next day found me at La Bessee, at the junction of the +Val Louise with the valley of the Durance, in full view of Mont Pelvoux. +The same night I slept at Briancon, intending to take the courier on the +following day to Grenoble, but all places had been secured several days +beforehand, so I set out at two P.M. on the next day for a seventy-mile +walk. The weather was again bad, and on the summit of the Col de +Lautaret I was forced to seek shelter in the wretched little hospice. It +was filled with workmen who were employed on the road, and with noxious +vapors which proceeded from them. The inclemency of the weather was +preferable to the inhospitality of the interior. + +Outside, it was disagreeable, but grand--inside, it was disagreeable and +mean. The walk was continued under a deluge of rain, and I felt the way +down, so intense was the darkness, to the village of La Grave, where the +people of the inn detained me forcibly. It was perhaps fortunate that +they did so, for during that night blocks of rock fell at several places +from the cliffs on to the road with such force that they made large +holes in the macadam, which looked as if there had been explosions +of gunpowder. I resumed the walk at half-past five next morning, and +proceeded, under steady rain, through Bourg d'Oysans to Grenoble, +arriving at the latter place soon after seven P.M., having accomplished +the entire distance from Briancon in about eighteen hours of actual +walking. + +This was the end of the Alpine portion of my tour of 1860, on which +I was introduced to the great peaks, and acquired the passion for +mountain-scrambling. + + +FIRST TO THE TOP OF THE MATTERHORN[47] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +We started from Zermatt on the 13th of July at half-past five, on +a brilliant and perfectly cloudless morning. We were eight in +number--Croz, old Peter and his two sons, Lord Francis Douglas, Hadow, +Hudson and I. To ensure steady motion, one tourist and one native walked +together. The youngest Taugwalder fell to my share, and the lad marched +well, proud to be on the expedition and happy to show his powers. The +wine-bags also fell to my lot to carry, and throughout the day, after +each drink, I replenished them secretly with water, so that at the next +halt they were found fuller than before! This was considered a good +omen, and little short of miraculous. + +On the first day we did not intend to ascend to any great height, and we +mounted, accordingly, very leisurely, picked up the things which were +left in the chapel at the Schwarzsee at 8:20, and proceeded thence along +the ridge connecting the Hoernli with the Matterhorn. At half-past eleven +we arrived at the base of the actual peak, then quitted the ridge and +clambered round some ledges on to the eastern face. We were now fairly +upon the mountain, and were astonished to find that places which +from the Riffel, or even from the Furggengletscher, looked entirely +impracticable, were so easy that we could run about. + +Before twelve o'clock we had found a good position for the tent, at a +height of eleven thousand feet. Croz and young Peter went on to see what +was above, in order to save time on the following morning. They +cut across the heads of the snow-slopes which descended toward the +Furggengletscher, and disappeared round a corner, but shortly afterward +we saw them high up on the face, moving quickly. We others made a solid +platform for the tent in a well-protected spot, and then watched eagerly +for the return of the men. The stones which they upset told that they +were very high, and we supposed that the way must be easy. At length, +just before 3 P.M., we saw them coming down, evidently much excited. +"What are they saying, Peter?" "Gentlemen, they say it is no good." But +when they came near we heard a different story: "Nothing but what was +good--not a difficulty, not a single difficulty! We could have gone to +the summit and returned to-day easily!" + +We passed the remaining hours of daylight--some basking in the sunshine, +some sketching or collecting--and when the sun went down, giving, as it +departed, a glorious promise for the morrow, we returned to the tent to +arrange for the night. Hudson made tea, I coffee, and we then retired +each one to his blanket-bag, the Taugwalders, Lord Francis Douglas and +myself occupying the tent, the others remaining, by preference, outside. +Long after dusk the cliffs above echoed with our laughter and with the +songs of the guides, for we were happy that night in camp, and feared no +evil. + +We assembled together outside the tent before dawn on the morning of the +14th, and started directly it was light enough to move. Young Peter came +on with us as a guide, and his brother returned to Zermatt. We followed +the route which had been taken on the previous day, and in a few minutes +turned the rib which had intercepted the view of the eastern face from +our tent platform. The whole of this great slope was now revealed, +rising for three thousand feet like a huge natural staircase. Some parts +were more and others were less easy, but we were not once brought to a +halt by any serious impediment, for when an obstruction was met in front +it could always be turned to the right or to the left. + +For the greater part of the way there was indeed no occasion for the +rope, and sometimes Hudson led, sometimes myself. At 6:20 we had +attained a height of twelve thousand eight hundred feet, and halted for +half an hour; we then continued the ascent without a break until 9:55, +when we stopt for fifty minutes at a height of fourteen thousand feet. +Twice we struck the northeastern ridge, and followed it for some little +distance--to no advantage, for it was usually more rotten and steep, and +always more difficult, than the face. Still, we kept near to it, lest +stones perchance might fall. + +We had now arrived at the foot of that part which, from the Riffelberg +or from Zermatt, seems perpendicular or overhanging, and could no longer +continue upon the eastern side. For a little distance we ascended by +snow upon the arete--that is, the ridge--descending toward Zermatt, and +then by common consent turned over to the right, or to the northern +side. Before doing so we made a change in the order of ascent. Croz went +first, I followed, Hudson came third; Hadow and old Peter were +last. "Now," said Croz as he led off--"now for something altogether +different." The work became difficult, and required caution. In some +places there was little to hold, and it was desirable that those should +be in front who were least likely to slip. The general slope of the +mountain at this part was less than forty degrees, and snow had +accumulated in, and had filled up, the interstices of the rock-face, +leaving only occasional fragments projecting here and there. These were +at times covered with a thin film of ice, produced from the melting and +refreezing of the snow. + +It was the counterpart, on a small scale, of the upper seven +hundred feet of the Pointe des Ecrins; only there was this material +difference--the face of the Ecrins was about, or exceeded, an angle of +fifty degrees, and the Matterhorn face was less than forty degrees. It +was a place over which any fair mountaineers might pass in safety, +and Mr. Hudson ascended this part, and, as far as I know, the entire +mountain, without having the slightest assistance rendered to him upon +any occasion. Sometimes, after I had taken a hand from Croz or received +a pull, I turned to offer the same to Hudson, but he invariably +declined, saying it was not necessary. Mr. Hadow, however, was not +accustomed to this kind of work, and required continual assistance. It +is only fair to say that the difficulty which he found at this part +arose simply and entirely from want of experience. + +This solitary difficult part was of no great extent. We bore away over +it at first nearly horizontally, for a distance of about four hundred +feet, then ascended directly toward the summit for about sixty feet, and +then doubled back to the ridge which descends toward Zermatt. A long +stride round a rather awkward corner brought us to snow once more. The +last doubt vanished! The Matterhorn was ours! Nothing but two hundred +feet of easy snow remained to be surmounted!.... + +The summit of the Matterhorn was formed of a rudely level ridge, +about three hundred and fifty feet long. The day was one of those +superlatively calm and clear ones which usually precede bad weather. The +atmosphere was perfectly still and free from clouds or vapors. Mountains +fifty--nay, a hundred--miles off looked sharp and near. All their +details--ridge and crag, snow and glacier--stood out with faultless +definition. Pleasant thoughts of happy days in bygone years came +up unbidden as we recognized the old, familiar forms. All were +revealed--not one of the principal peaks of the Alps was hidden. I see +them clearly now--the great inner circles of giants, backed by the +ranges, chains and "massifs." First came the Dent Blanche, hoary and +grand; the Gabelhorn and pointed Rothborn, and then the peerless +Weisshorn; the towering Mischabelhoerner flanked by the Allaleinhorn, +Strahlhorn and Rimpfischhorn; then Monte Rosa--with its many +Spitzen--the Lyskamm and the Breithorn. Behind were the Bernese +Oberland, governed by the Finsteraarhorn, the Simplon and St. Gothard +groups, the Disgrazia and the Orteler. Toward the south we looked down +to Chivasso on the plain of Piedmont, and far beyond. The Viso--one +hundred miles away--seemed close upon us; the Maritime Alps--one hundred +and thirty miles distant--were free from haze. + +Then came into view my first love--the Pelvoux; the Ecrins and the +Meije; the clusters of the Graians; and lastly, in the west, gorgeous +in the full sunlight, rose the monarch of all--Mont Blanc. Ten thousand +feet beneath us were the green fields of Zermatt, dotted with chalets, +from which blue smoke rose lazily. Eight thousand feet below, on the +other side, were the pastures of Breuil. There were forests black and +gloomy, and meadows bright and lively; bounding waterfalls and tranquil +lakes; fertile lands and savage wastes: sunny plains and frigid +plateaux. There were the most rugged forms and the most graceful +outlines--bold, perpendicular cliffs and gentle, undulating slopes; +rocky mountains and snowy mountains, somber and solemn or glittering +and white, with walls, turrets, pinnacles, pyramids, domes, cones and +spires! There was every combination that the world can give, and every +contrast that the heart could desire. We remained on the summit for one +hour-- + + One crowded hour of glorious life. + + +THE LORD FRANCIS DOUGLAS TRAGEDY[48] + +BY EDWARD WHYMPER + +We began to prepare for the descent. Hudson and I again consulted as to +the best and safest arrangement of the party. We agreed that it would +be best for Croz to go first, and Hadow second; Hudson, who was almost +equal to a guide in sureness of foot, wished to be third; Lord Francis +Douglas was placed next, and old Peter, the strongest of the remainder, +after him. I suggested to Hudson that we should attach a rope to the +rocks on our arrival at the difficult bit, and hold it as we descended, +as an additional protection. He approved the idea, but it was not +definitely settled that it should be done. The party was being arranged +in the above order while I was sketching the summit, and they had +finished, and were waiting for me to be tied in line, when some one +remembered that our names had not been left in a bottle. They requested +me to write them down, and moved off while it was being done. + +A few minutes afterward I tied myself to young Peter, ran down after the +others, and caught them just as they were commencing the descent of the +difficult part. Great care was being taken. Only one man was moving at a +time; when he was firmly planted, the next advanced, and so on. They had +not, however, attached the additional rope to rocks, and nothing was +said about it. The suggestion was not made for my own sake, and I am +not sure that it even occurred to me again. For some little distance we +followed the others, detached from them, and should have continued so +had not Lord Francis Douglas asked me, about 3 P.M., to tie on to old +Peter, as he feared, he said, that Taugwalder would not be able to hold +his ground if a slip occurred. + +A few minutes later a sharp-eyed lad ran into the Monte Rosa hotel to +Seiler,[49] saying that he had seen an avalanche fall from the summit of +the Matterhorn on to the Matterhorngletscher. The boy was reproved for +telling such idle stories; he was right, nevertheless, and this was what +he saw. + +Michael Croz had laid aside his ax, and in order to give Mr. Hadow +greater security was absolutely taking hold of his legs and putting his +feet, one by one, into their proper positions. As far as I know, no one +was actually descending. I can not speak with certainty, because the two +leading men were partially hidden from my sight by an intervening mass +of rock, but it is my belief, from the movements of their shoulders, +that Croz, having done as I have said, was in the act of turning round +to go down a step or two himself; at the moment Mr. Hadow slipt, fell +against him and knocked him over. + +I heard one startled exclamation from Croz, then saw him and Mr. Hadow +flying downward; in another moment Hudson was dragged from his steps, +and Lord Francis Douglas immediately after him. All this was the work +of a moment. Immediately we heard Croz's exclamation, old Peter and I +planted ourselves as firmly as the rocks would permit; the rope was taut +between us, and the jerk came on us both as one man. We held, but the +rope broke midway between Taugwalder and Lord Francis Douglas. For a +few seconds we saw our unfortunate companions sliding downward on their +backs, and spreading out their hands, endeavoring to save themselves. +They passed from our sight uninjured, disappeared one by one, and fell +from precipice to precipice on to the Matterhorngletscher below, a +distance of nearly four thousand feet in height. From the moment the +rope broke it was impossible to help them. + +So perished our comrades! For the space of half an hour we remained on +the spot without moving a single step. The two men, paralyzed by terror, +cried like infants, and trembled in such a manner as to threaten us with +the fate of the others. Old Peter rent the air with exclamations of +"Chamounix!--oh, what will Chamounix say?" He meant, who would believe +that Croz could fall? The young man did nothing but scream or sob, "We +are lost! we are lost!" Fixt between the two, I could move neither up +nor down. I begged young Peter to descend, but he dared not. Unless he +did, we could not advance. Old Peter became alive to the danger, and +swelled the cry, "We are lost! we are lost!" + +The father's fear was natural--he trembled for his son; the young man's +fear was cowardly--he thought of self alone. At last old Peter summoned +up courage, and changed his position to a rock to which he could fix +the rope; the young man then descended, and we all stood together. +Immediately we did so, I asked for the rope which had given way, and +found, to my surprise--indeed, to my horror--that it was the weakest of +the three ropes. It was not brought, and should not have been employed, +for the purpose for which it was used. It was old rope, and, compared +with the others, was feeble. It was intended as a reserve, in case we +had to leave much rope behind attached to rocks. I saw at once that a +serious question was involved, and made them give me the end. It had +broken in mid-air, and it did not appear to have sustained previous +injury. + +For more than two hours afterward I thought almost every moment that the +next would be my last, for the Taugwalders, utterly unnerved, were not +only incapable of giving assistance, but were in such a state that a +slip might have been expected from them at any moment. After a time we +were able to do that which should have been done at first, and fixt rope +to firm rocks, in addition to being tied together. These ropes were cut +from time to time, and were left behind. Even with their assurance the +men were afraid to proceed, and several times old Peter turned with ashy +face and faltering limbs, and said with terrible emphasis, "I can not!" + +About 6 P.M. we arrived at the snow upon, the ridge descending toward +Zermatt, and all peril was over. We frequently looked, but in vain, for +traces of our unfortunate companions; we bent over the ridge and cried +to them, but no sound returned. Convinced at last that they were within +neither sight nor hearing, we ceased from our useless efforts, and, too +cast down for speech, silently gathered up our things, preparatory to +continuing the descent. + +When lo! a mighty arch appeared, rising above the Lyskamm high into the +sky. Pale, colorless and noiseless, but perfectly sharp and defined, +except where it was lost in the clouds, this unearthly apparition seemed +like a vision from another world, and almost appalled we watched with +amazement the gradual development of two vast crosses, one on either +side. If the Taugwalders had not been the first to perceive it, I should +have doubted my senses. They thought it had some connection with the +accident, and I, after a while, that it might bear some relations to +ourselves. But our movements had no effect upon it. The spectral forms +remained motionless. It was a fearful and wonderful sight, unique in my +experience, and impressive beyond description, at such a moment.... + +Night fell, and for an hour the descent was continued in the darkness. +At half-past nine a resting-place was found, and upon a wretched slab, +barely large enough to hold three, we passed six miserable hours. At +daybreak the descent was resumed, and from the Hornli ridge we ran down +to the chalets of Buhl and on to Zermatt. Seiler met me at his door, and +followed in silence to my room: "What is the matter?" "The Taugwalders +and I have returned." He did not need more, and burst into tears, but +lost no time in lamentations, and set to work to arouse the village. + +Ere long a score of men had started to ascend the Hohlicht heights, +above Kalbermatt and Z'Mutt, which commanded the plateau of the +Matterhorngletscher. They returned after six hours, and reported that +they had seen the bodies lying motionless on the snow. This was on +Saturday, and they proposed that we should leave on Sunday evening, so +as to arrive upon the plateau at daybreak on Monday. We started at 2 +A.M. on Sunday, the 16th, and followed the route that we had taken on +the previous Thursday as far as the Hornli. From thence we went down +to the right of the ridge, and mounted through the "seracs" of the +Matterhorngletscher. By 8:30 we had got to the plateau at the top of the +glacier, and within sight of the corner in which we knew my companions +must be. As we saw one weather-beaten man after another raise the +telescope, turn deadly pale and pass it on without a word to the next, +we knew that all hope was gone. We approached. They had fallen below as +they had fallen above--Croz a little in advance, Hadow near him, and +Hudson behind, but of Lord Francis Douglas we could see nothing.[50] We +left them where they fell, buried in snow at the base of the grandest +cliff of the most majestic mountain of the Alps. + + +AN ASCENT OF MONTE ROSA[51] + +BY JOHN TYNDALL + +On Monday, the 9th of August, we reached the Riffel, and, by good +fortune on the evening of the same day, my guide's brother, the +well-known Ulrich Lauener, also arrived at the hotel on his return from +Monte Rosa. From him we obtained all the information possible respecting +the ascent, and he kindly agreed to accompany us a little way the next +morning, to put us on the right track. At three A.M. the door of my +bedroom opened, and Christian Lauener announced to me that the weather +was sufficiently good to justify an attempt. The stars were shining +overhead; but Ulrich afterward drew our attention to some heavy clouds +which clung to the mountains on the other side of the valley of the +Visp; remarking that the weather might continue fair throughout the day, +but that these clouds were ominous. At four o'clock we were on our way, +by which time a gray stratus cloud had drawn itself across the neck of +the Matterhorn, and soon afterward another of the same nature encircled +his waist. We proceeded past the Riffelhorn to the ridge above the +Goerner Glacier, from which Monte Rosa was visible from top to bottom, +and where an animated conversation in Swiss dialect commenced. + +Ulrich described the slopes, passes, and precipices, which were to guide +us; and Christian demanded explanations, until he was finally able to +declare to me that his knowledge was sufficient. We then bade Ulrich +good-by, and went forward. All was clear about Monte Rosa, and the +yellow morning light shone brightly upon its uppermost snows. Beside +the Queen of the Alps was the huge mass of the Lyskamm, with a saddle +stretching from the one to the other; next to the Lyskamm came two +white, rounded mounds, smooth and pure, the Twins Castor and Pollux, +and further to the right again the broad, brown flank of the Breithorn. +Behind us Mont Cervin[52] gathered the clouds more thickly round him, +until finally his grand obelisk was totally hidden. We went along the +mountain side for a time, and then descended to the glacier. + +The surface was hard frozen, and the ice crunched loudly under our +feet. There was a hollowness and volume in the sound which require +explanation; and this, I think, is furnished by the remarks of Sir John +Herschel on those hollow sounds at the Solfaterra, near Naples, from +which travelers have inferred the existence of cavities within the +mountain. At the place where these sounds are heard the earth is +friable, and, when struck, the concussion is reinforced and lengthened +by the partial echoes from the surfaces of the fragments. The +conditions for a similar effect exist upon the glacier, for the ice is +disintegrated to a certain depth, and from the innumerable places +of rupture little reverberations are sent, which give a length and +hollowness to the sound produced by the crushing of the fragments on the +surface. + +We looked to the sky at intervals, and once a meteor slid across it, +leaving a train of sparks behind. The blue firmament, from which the +stars shone down so brightly when we rose, was more and more invaded by +clouds, which advanced upon us from our rear, while before us the solemn +heights of Monte Rosa were bathed in rich yellow sunlight. As the day +advanced the radiance crept down toward the valleys; but still those +stealthy clouds advanced like a besieging army, taking deliberate +possession of the summits, one after another, while gray skirmishers +moved through the air above us. The play of light and shadow upon Monte +Rosa was at times beautiful, bars of gloom and zones of glory shifting +and alternating from top to bottom of the mountain. + +At five o'clock a gray cloud alighted on the shoulder of the Lyskamm, +which had hitherto been warmed by the lovely yellow light. Soon +afterward we reached the foot of Monte Rosa, and passed from the glacier +to a slope of rocks, whose rounded forms and furrowed surfaces showed +that the ice of former ages had moved over them; the granite was now +coated with lichens, and between the bosses where mold could rest were +patches of tender moss. As we ascended a peal to the right announced the +descent of an avalanche from the Twins; it came heralded by clouds of +ice-dust, which resembled the sphered masses of condensed vapor which +issue from a locomotive. + +A gentle snow-slope brought us to the base of a precipice of brown +rocks, round which we wound; the snow was in excellent order, and the +chasms were so firmly bridged by the frozen mass that no caution was +necessary in crossing them. Surmounting a weathered cliff to our left, +we paused upon the summit to look upon the scene around us. The snow +gliding insensibly from the mountains, or discharged in avalanches from +the precipices which it overhung, filled the higher valleys with pure +white glaciers, which were rifted and broken here and there, exposing +chasms and precipices from which gleamed the delicate blue of the +half-formed ice. Sometimes, however, the "neves" spread over wide spaces +without a rupture or wrinkle to break the smoothness of the superficial +snow. The sky was now, for the most part, overcast, but through the +residual blue spaces the sun at intervals poured light over the rounded +bosses of the mountain. + +At half-past seven o'clock we reached another precipice of rock, to the +left of which our route lay, and here Lauener proposed to have some +refreshment; after which we went on again. The clouds spread more and +more, leaving at length mere specks and patches of blue between them. +Passing some high peaks, formed by the dislocation of the ice, we came +to a place where the "neve" was rent by crevasses, on the walls of which +the stratification, due to successive snowfalls, was thrown with great +beauty and definition. Between two of these fissures our way now lay; +the wall of one of them was hollowed out longitudinally midway down, +thus forming a roof above and a ledge below, and from roof to ledge +stretched a railing of cylindrical icicles, as if intended to bolt them +together. A cloud now for the first time touched the summit of Monte +Rosa, and sought to cling to it, but in a minute it dispersed in +shattered fragments, as if dashed to pieces for its presumption. The +mountain remained for a time clear and triumphant, but the triumph was +shortlived; like suitors that will not be repelled, the dusky vapors +came; repulse after repulse took place, and the sunlight gushed down +upon the heights, but it was manifest that the clouds gained ground in +the conflict. + +Until about a quarter-past nine o'clock our work was mere child's play, +a pleasant morning stroll along the flanks of the mountain; but steeper +slopes now rose above us, which called for more energy, and more care +in the fixing of the feet. Looked at from below, some of these slopes +appeared precipitous; but we were too well acquainted with the effect +of fore-shortening to let this daunt us. At each step we dug our batons +into the deep snow. When first driven in, the batons [53] "dipt" from +us, but were brought, as we walked forward, to the vertical, and finally +beyond it at the other side. The snow was thus forced aside, a rubbing +of the staff against it, and of the snow-particles against each other, +being the consequence. We had thus perpetual rupture and regelation; +while the little sounds consequent upon rupture reinforced by the +partial echoes from the surfaces of the granules, were blended together +to a note resembling the lowing of cows. + +Hitherto I had paused at intervals to make notes, or to take an angle; +but these operations now ceased, not from want of time, but from pure +dislike; for when the eye has to act the part of a sentinel who feels +that at any moment the enemy may be upon him; when the body must be +balanced with precision, and legs and arms, besides performing actual +labor, must be kept in readiness for possible contingencies; above all, +when you feel that your safety depends upon yourself alone, and that, if +your footing gives way, there is no strong arm behind ready to be thrown +between you and destruction; under such circumstances the relish for +writing ceases, and you are willing to hand over your impressions to the +safekeeping of memory. + +Prom the vast boss which constitutes the lower portion of Monte Rosa +cliffy edges run upward to the summit. Were the snow removed from +these we should, I doubt not, see them as toothed or serrated crags, +justifying the term "kamm," or "comb," applied to such edges by the +Germans. Our way now lay along such a "kamm," the cliffs of which had, +however, caught the snow, and been completely covered by it, forming an +edge like the ridge of a house-roof, which sloped steeply upward. On the +Lyskamm side of the edge there was no footing, and if a human body fell +over here, it would probably pass through a vertical space of some +thousands of feet, falling or rolling, before coming to rest. On +the other side the snow-slope was less steep, but excessively +perilous-looking, and intersected by precipices of ice. Dense clouds +now enveloped us, and made our position far uglier than if it had been +fairly illuminated. The valley below us was one vast cauldron, filled +with precipitated vapor, which came seething at times up the sides of +the mountain. Sometimes this fog would clear away, and the light would +gleam from the dislocated glaciers. My guide continually admonished me +to make my footing sure, and to fix at each step my staff firmly in the +consolidated snow. At one place, for a short steep ascent, the slope +became hard ice, and our position a very ticklish one. We hewed our +steps as we moved upward, but were soon glad to deviate from the ice to +a position scarcely less awkward. The wind had so acted upon the snow as +to fold it over the edge of the kamm, thus causing it to form a kind +of cornice, which overhung the precipice on the Lyskamm side of the +mountain. This cornice now bore our weight; its snow had become somewhat +firm, but it was yielding enough to permit the feet to sink in it a +little way, and thus secure us at least against the danger of slipping. +Here, also, at each step we drove our batons firmly into the snow, +availing ourselves of whatever help they could render. + +Once, while thus securing my anchorage, the handle of my hatchet went +right through the cornice on which we stood, and, on withdrawing it, I +could see through the aperture into the cloud-crammed gulf below. We +continued ascending until we reached a rock protruding from the snow, +and here we halted for a few minutes. Lauener looked upward through the +fog. "According to all description," he observed, "this ought to be the +last kamm of the mountain; but in this obscurity we can see nothing." +Snow began to fall, and we recommenced our journey, quitting the rocks +and climbing again along the edge. Another hour brought us to a crest of +cliffs, at which, to our comfort, the kamm appeared to cease, and other +climbing qualities were demanded of us. + +On the Lyskamm side, as I have said, rescue would be out of the +question, should the climber go over the edge. On the other side of the +edge rescue seemed possible, tho' the slope, as stated already, was +most dangerously steep. I now asked Lauener what he would have done, +supposing my footing to have failed on the latter slope. He did not seem +to like the question, but said that he should have considered well for +a moment and then have sprung after me; but he exhorted me to drive all +such thoughts away. I laughed at him, and this did more to set his mind +at rest than any formal profession of courage could have done. + +We were now among rocks; we climbed cliffs and descended them, and +advanced sometimes with our feet on narrow ledges, holding tightly on to +other ledges by our fingers; sometimes, cautiously balanced, we moved +along edges of rock with precipices on both sides. Once, in getting +round a crag, Lauener shook a book from his pocket; it was arrested by a +rock about sixty or eighty feet below us. He wished to regain it, but I +offered to supply its place, if he thought the descent too dangerous. He +said he would make the trial, and parted from me. I thought it useless +to remain idle. A cleft was before me, through which I must pass; so +pressing my knees and back against its opposite sides, I gradually +worked myself to the top. I descended the other face of the rock, +and then, through a second ragged fissure, to the summit of another +pinnacle. The highest point of the mountain was now at hand, separated +from me merely by a short saddle, carved by weathering out the crest +of the mountain. I could hear Lauener clattering after me, through the +rocks behind. I dropt down upon the saddle, crossed it, climbed the +opposite cliff, and "die hoechste Spitze" of Monte Rosa was won. + +Lauener joined me immediately, and we mutually congratulated each other +on the success of the ascent. The residue of the bread and meat was +produced, and a bottle of tea was also appealed to. Mixed with a little +cognac, Lauener declared that he had never tasted anything like it. +Snow fell thickly at intervals, and the obscurity was very great; +occasionally this would lighten and permit the sun to shed a ghastly +dilute light upon us through the gleaming vapor. I put my boiling-water +apparatus in order, and fixt it in a corner behind a ledge; the shelter +was, however, insufficient, so I placed my hat above the vessel. The +boiling-point was 184.92 deg. Fahr., the ledge on which the instrument +stood being five feet below the highest point of the mountain. + +The ascent from the Riffel Hotel occupied us about seven hours, nearly +two of which were spent upon the kaemm and crest. Neither of us felt in +the least degree fatigued; I, indeed, felt so fresh, that had another +Monte Rosa been planted on the first, I should have continued the +climb without hesitation, and with strong hopes of reaching the top. +I experienced no trace of mountain sickness, lassitude, shortness of +breath, heart-beat, or headache; nevertheless the summit of Monte Rosa +is 15,284 feet high, being less than 500 feet lower than Mont Blanc. It +is, I think, perfectly certain, that the rarefaction of the air at this +height is not sufficient of itself to produce the symptoms referred to; +physical exertion must be superadded. + + +MONT BLANC ASCENDED, HUXLEY GOING PART WAY[54] + +BY JOHN TYNDALL + +The way for a time was excessively rough,[55] our route being overspread +with the fragments of peaks which had once reared themselves to our +left, but which frost and lightning had shaken to pieces, and poured +in granite avalanches down the mountain. We were sometimes among huge, +angular boulders, and sometimes amid lighter shingle, which gave way at +every step, thus forcing us to shift our footing incessantly. Escaping +from these we crossed the succession of secondary glaciers which lie +at the feet of the Aiguilles, and, having secured firewood, found +ourselves, after some hours of hard work, at the Pierre l'Echelle. Here +we were furnished with leggings of coarse woolen cloth to keep out the +snow; they were tied under the knees and quite tightly again over the +insteps, so that the legs were effectually protected. We had some +refreshment, possest ourselves of the ladder, and entered upon the +glacier. + +The ice was excessively fissured; we crossed crevasses and crept +round slippery ridges, cutting steps in the ice wherever climbing +was necessary. This rendered our progress very slow. Once, with the +intention of lending a helping hand, I stept forward upon a block of +granite which happened to be poised like a rocking stone upon the ice, +tho' I did not know it; it treacherously turned under me; I fell, but my +hands were in instant requisition, and I escaped with a bruise, from +which, however, the blood oozed angrily. We found the ladder necessary +in crossing some of the chasms, the iron spikes at its end being firmly +driven into the ice at one side, while the other end rested on the +opposite side of the fissure. The middle portion of the glacier was +not difficult. Mounds of ice rose beside us right and left, which were +sometimes split into high towers and gaunt-looking pyramids, while the +space between was unbroken. + +Twenty minutes' walking brought us again to a fissured portion of the +glacier, and here our porter left the ladder on the ice behind him. For +some time I was not aware of this, but we were soon fronted by a chasm +to pass which we were in consequence compelled to make a long and +dangerous circuit amid crests of crumbling ice. This accomplished, we +hoped that no repetition of the process would occur, but we speedily +came to a second fissure, where it was necessary to step from a +projecting end of ice to a mass of soft snow which overhung the opposite +side. Simond could reach this snow with his long-handled ax; he beat +it down to give it rigidity, but it was exceedingly tender, and as he +worked at it he continued to express his fears that it would not bear +us. I was the lightest of the party, and therefore tested the passage +first; being partially lifted by Simond on the end of his ax, I crossed +the fissure, obtained some anchorage at the other side, and helped the +others over. We afterward ascended until another chasm, deeper and wider +than any we had hitherto encountered, arrested us. We walked alongside +of it in search of a snow-bridge, which we at length found, but the +keystone of the arch had, unfortunately, given way, leaving projecting +eaves of snow at both sides, between which we could look into the gulf, +till the gloom of its deeper portions cut the vision short. + +Both sides of the crevasse were sounded, but no sure footing was +obtained; the snow was beaten and carefully trodden down as near to the +edge as possible, but it finally broke away from the foot and fell into +the chasm. One of our porters was short-legged and a bad iceman; the +other was a daring fellow, and he now threw the knapsack from his +shoulders, came to the edge of the crevasse, looked into it, but drew +back again. After a pause he repeated the act, testing the snow with +his feet and staff. I looked at the man as he stood beside the chasm +manifestly undecided as to whether he should take the step upon which +his life would hang, and thought it advisable to put a stop to such +perilous play. I accordingly interposed, the man withdrew from the +crevasse, and he and Simond descended to fetch the ladder. + +While they were away Huxley sat down upon the ice, with an expression of +fatigue stamped upon his countenance; the spirit and the muscles were +evidently at war, and the resolute will mixed itself strangely with the +sense of peril and feeling of exhaustion. He had been only two days +with us, and, tho' his strength is great, he had had no opportunity of +hardening himself by previous exercise upon the ice for the task which +he had undertaken. The ladder now arrived, and we crossed the crevasse. +I was intentionally the last of the party, Huxley being immediately in +front of me. The determination of the man disguised his real condition +from everybody but himself, but I saw that the exhausting journey over +the boulders and debris had been too much for his London limbs. + +Converting my waterproof haversack into a cushion, I made him sit down +upon it at intervals, and by thus breaking the steep ascent into short +stages we reached the cabin of the Grands Mulets together. Here I spread +a rug on the boards, and, placing my bag for a pillow, he lay down, and +after an hour's profound sleep he rose refreshed and well; but still he +thought it wise not to attempt the ascent farther. Our porters left us; +a baton was stretched across the room over the stove, and our wet socks +and leggings were thrown across it to dry; our boots were placed around +the fire, and we set about preparing our evening meal. A pan was placed +upon the fire, and filled with snow, which in due time melted and +boiled; I ground some chocolate and placed it in the pan, and afterward +ladled the beverage into the vessels we possest, which consisted of two +earthen dishes and the metal cases of our brandy flasks. After supper +Simond went out to inspect the glacier, and was observed by Huxley, as +twilight fell, in a state of deep contemplation beside a crevasse. + +Gradually the stars appeared, but as yet no moon. Before lying down we +went out to look at the firmament, and noticed, what I supposed has been +observed to some extent by everybody, that the stars near the horizon +twinkled busily, while those near the zenith shone with a steady light. +One large star, in particular, excited our admiration; it flashed +intensely, and changed color incessantly, sometimes blushing like a +ruby, and again gleaming like an emerald. A determinate color would +sometimes remain constant for a sensible time, but usually the flashes +followed each other in very quick succession. + +Three planks were now placed across the room near the stove, and upon +these, with their rugs folded round them, Huxley and Hirst stretched +themselves, while I nestled on the boards at the most distant end of the +room. We rose at eleven o'clock, renewed the fire and warmed ourselves, +after which we lay down again. I, at length, observed a patch of pale +light upon the wooden wall of the cabin, which had entered through a +hole in the end of the edifice, and rising found that it was past one +o'clock. The cloudless moon was shining over the wastes of snow, and the +scene outside was at once wild, grand, and beautiful. + +Breakfast was soon prepared, tho' not without difficulty; we had no +candles, they had been forgotten; but I fortunately possest a box of +wax matches, of which Huxley took charge, patiently igniting them in +succession, and thus giving us a tolerably continuous light. We had +some tea, which had been made at the Montanvert,[56] and carried to the +Grands Mulets in a bottle. My memory of that tea is not pleasant; it had +been left a whole night in contact with its leaves, and smacked strongly +of tannin. The snow-water, moreover, with which we diluted it was not +pure, but left a black residuum at the bottom of the dishes in which the +beverage was served. The few provisions deemed necessary being placed in +Simond's knapsack, at twenty minutes past two o'clock we scrambled down +the rocks, leaving Huxley behind us. + +The snow was hardened by the night's frost, and we were cheered by the +hope of being able to accomplish the ascent with comparatively little +labor. We were environed by an atmosphere of perfect purity; the larger +stars hung like gems above us, and the moon, about half full, shone with +wondrous radiance in the dark firmament. One star in particular, which +lay eastward from the moon, suddenly made its appearance above one of +the Aiguilles, and burned there with unspeakable splendor. We turned +once toward the Mulets, and saw Huxley's form projected against the sky +as he stood upon a pinnacle of rock; he gave us a last wave of the hand +and descended, while we receded from him into the solitudes. + +The evening previous our guide had examined the glacier for some +distance, his progress having been arrested by a crevasse. Beside this +we soon halted: it was spanned at one place by a bridge of snow, which +was of too light a structure to permit of Simond's testing it alone; +we therefore paused while our guide uncoiled a rope and tied us all +together. The moment was to me a peculiarly solemn one. Our little party +seemed so lonely and so small amid the silence and the vastness of the +surrounding scene. We were about to try our strength under unknown +conditions, and as the various possibilities of the enterprise crowded +on the imagination, a sense of responsibility for a moment opprest +me. But as I looked aloft and saw the glory of the heavens, my heart +lightened, and I remarked cheerily to Hirst that Nature seemed to smile +upon our work. "Yes," he replied, in a calm and earnest voice, "and, God +willing, we shall accomplish it." + +A pale light now overspread the eastern sky, which increased, as we +ascended, to a daffodil tinge; this afterward heightened to orange, +deepening at one extremity into red, and fading at the other into a +pure, ethereal hue to which it would be difficult to assign a special +name. Higher up the sky was violet, and this changed by insensible +degrees into the darkling blue of the zenith, which had to thank the +light of moon and stars alone for its existence. We wound steadily for a +time through valleys of ice, climbed white and slippery slopes, crossed +a number of crevasses, and after some time found ourselves beside a +chasm of great depth and width, which extended right and left as far +as we could see. We turned to the left, and marched along its edge in +search of a "pont"; but matters became gradually worse; other crevasses +joined on to the first one, and the further we proceeded the more riven +and dislocated the ice became. + +At length we reached a place where further advance was impossible. +Simond, in his difficulty complained of the want of light, and wished us +to wait for the advancing day; I, on the contrary, thought that we had +light enough and ought to make use of it. Here the thought occurred to +me that Simond, having been only once before to the top of the mountain, +might not be quite clear about the route; the glacier, however, changes +within certain limits from year to year, so that a general knowledge was +all that could be expected, and we trusted to our own muscles to make +good any mistake in the way of guidance. + +We now turned and retraced our steps along the edges of chasms where the +ice was disintegrated and insecure, and succeeded at length in finding a +bridge which bore us across the crevasse. This error caused us the loss +of an hour, and after walking for this time we could cast a stone from +the point we had attained to the place whence we had been compelled to +return. + +Our way now lay along the face of a steep incline of snow, which was cut +by the fissure we had just passed, in a direction parallel to our route. +On the heights to our right, loose ice-crags seemed to totter, and we +passed two tracks over which the frozen blocks had rushed some short +time previously. We were glad to get out of the range of these terrible +projectiles, and still more so to escape the vicinity of that ugly +crevasse. To be killed in the open air would be a luxury, compared with +having the life squeezed out of one in the horrible gloom of these +chasms. The blush of the coming day became more and more intense; still +the sun himself did not appear, being hidden from us by the peaks of +the Aiguille du Midi, which were drawn clear and sharp against the +brightening sky. Right under this Aiguille were heaps of snow smoothly +rounded and constituting a portion of the sources whence the Glacier du +Geant is fed; these, as the day advanced, bloomed with a rosy light. We +reached the Petit Plateau, which we found covered with the remains of +ice avalanches; above us upon the crest of the mountain rose three +mighty bastions, divided from each other by deep, vertical rents, with +clean smooth walls, across which the lines of annual bedding were drawn +like courses of masonry. From these, which incessantly renew themselves, +and from the loose and broken ice-crags near them, the boulders amid +which we now threaded our way had been discharged. When they fall their +descent must be sublime. + +The snow had been gradually getting deeper, and the ascent more +wearisome, but superadded to this at the Petit Plateau was the +uncertainty of the footing between the blocks of ice. In many places +the space was merely covered by a thin crust, which, when trod upon, +instantly yielded and we sank with a shock sometimes to the hips. Our +way next lay up a steep incline to the Grand Plateau, the depth and +tenderness of the snow augmenting as we ascended. We had not yet seen +the sun, but as we attained the brow which forms the entrance to the +Grand Plateau, he hung his disk upon a spike of rock to our left, and, +surrounded by a glory of interference spectra of the most gorgeous +colors, blazed down upon us. On the Grand Plateau we halted and had our +frugal refreshment. + +At some distance to our left was the crevasse into which Dr. Hamel's +three guides were precipitated by an avalanche in 1820; they are still +entombed in the ice, and some future explorer may, perhaps, see them +disgorged lower down, fresh and undecayed. They can hardly reach the +surface until they pass the snow-line of the glacier, for above this +line the quantity of snow that annually falls being in excess of the +quantity melted, the tendency would be to make the ice-covering above +them thicker. But it is also possible that the waste of the ice +underneath may have brought the bodies to the bed of the glacier, where +their very bones may have been ground to mud by an agency which the +hardest rocks can not withstand. + +As the sun poured his light upon the Plateau the little snow-facets +sparkled brilliantly, sometimes with a pure white light, and at others +with prismatic colors. Contrasted with the white spaces above and +around us were the dark mountains on the opposite side of the valley of +Chamouni, around which fantastic masses of cloud were beginning to build +themselves. Mont Buet, with its cone of snow, looked small, and the +Brevent altogether mean; the limestone bastions of the Fys, however, +still presented a front of gloom and grandeur. We traversed the Grand +Plateau, and at length reached the base of an extremely steep incline +which stretched upward toward the Corridor. Here, as if produced by a +fault, consequent upon the sinking of the ice in front, rose a vertical +precipice, from the coping of which vast stalactites of ice depended. + +Previous to reaching this place I had noticed a haggard expression upon +the countenance of our guide, which was now intensified by the prospect +of the ascent before him. Hitherto he had always been in front, which +was certainly the most fatiguing position. I felt that I must now take +the lead, so I spoke cheerily to the man and placed him behind me. +Marking a number of points upon the slope as resting places, I went +swiftly from one to the other. The surface of the snow had been +partially melted by the sun and then refrozen, thus forming a +superficial crust, which bore the weight up to a certain point, and then +suddenly gave way, permitting the leg to sink to above the knee. The +shock consequent on this, and the subsequent effort necessary to +extricate the leg, were extremely fatiguing. My motion was complained of +as too quick, and my tracks as imperfect; I moderated the former, and to +render my footholes broad and sure, I stamped upon the frozen crust, +and twisted my legs in the soft mass underneath,--a terribly exhausting +process. I thus led the way to the base of the Rochers Bouges, up to +which the fault already referred to had prolonged itself as a crevasse, +which was roofed at one place by a most dangerous-looking snow-bridge. + +Simond came to the front; I drew his attention to the state of the snow, +and proposed climbing the Rochers Rouges; but, with a promptness unusual +with him, he replied that this was impossible; the bridge was our only +means of passing, and we must try it. We grasped our ropes, and dug our +feet firmly into the snow to check the man's descent if the "pont" gave +way, but to our astonishment it bore him, and bore us safely after +him. The slope which we had now to ascend had the snow swept from its +surface, and was therefore firm ice. It was most dangerously steep, and, +its termination being the fretted coping of the precipice to which I +have referred, if we slid downward we should shoot over this and be +dashed to pieces upon the ice below.[57] Simond, who had come to the +front to cross the crevasse, was now engaged in cutting steps, which he +made deep and large, so that they might serve us on our return. But the +listless strokes of his ax proclaimed his exhaustion; so I took the +implement out of his hands, and changed places with him. Step after step +was hewn, but the top of the Corridor appeared ever to recede from us. + +Hirst was behind, unoccupied, and could thus turn his thoughts to the +peril of our position; he "felt" the angle on which we hung, and saw the +edge of the precipice, to which less than a quarter of a minute's slide +would carry us, and for the first time during the journey he grew giddy. +A cigar which he lighted for the purpose tranquilized him. + +I hewed sixty steps upon this slope, and each step had cost a minute, by +Hirst's watch. The Mur de la Cote was still before us, and on this the +guide-books informed us two or three hundred steps were sometimes found +necessary. If sixty steps cost an hour, what would be the cost of two +hundred? The question was disheartening in the extreme, for the time at +which we had calculated on reaching the summit was already passed, while +the chief difficulties remained unconquered. Having hewn our way along +the harder ice we reached snow. I again resorted to stamping to secure a +footing, and while thus engaged became, for the first time, aware of the +drain of force to which I was subjecting myself. The thought of being +absolutely exhausted had never occurred to me, and from first to last I +had taken no care to husband my strength. I always calculated that the +"will" would serve me even should the muscles fail, but I now found that +mechanical laws rule man in the long run; that no effort of will, no +power of spirit, can draw beyond a certain limit upon muscular force. +The soul, it is true, can stir the body to action, but its function is +to excite and apply force, and not to create it. + +While stamping forward through the frozen crust I was compelled to pause +at short intervals; then would set out again apparently fresh, to +find, however, in a few minutes, that my strength was gone, and that +I required to rest once more. In this way I gained the summit of the +Corridor, when Hirst came to the front, and I felt some relief in +stepping slowly after him, making use of the holes into which his feet +had sunk. He thus led the way to the base of the Mur de la Cote, the +thought of which had so long cast a gloom upon us; here we left our rope +behind us, and while pausing I asked Simond whether he did not feel +a desire to go to the summit. "Surely," was his reply, "but!--" Our +guide's mind was so constituted that the "but" seemed essential to its +peace. I stretched my hands toward him, and said: "Simond, we must do +it." One thing alone I felt could defeat us: the usual time of the +ascent had been more than doubled, the day was already far spent, and if +the ascent would throw our subsequent descent into night it could not be +contemplated. + +We now faced the Mur, which was by no means so bad as we had expected. +Driving the iron claws of our boots into the scars made by the ax, and +the spikes of our batons into the slope above our feet, we ascended +steadily until the summit was attained, and the top of the mountain rose +clearly above us. We congratulated ourselves upon this; but Simond, +probably fearing that our joy might become too full, remarked: "But the +summit is still far off!" It was, alas! too true. The snow became soft +again, and our weary limbs sank in it as before. Our guide went on in +front, audibly muttering his doubts as to our ability to reach the top, +and at length he threw himself upon the snow, and exclaimed, "I give +up!" + +Hirst now undertook the task of rekindling the guide's enthusiasm, after +which Simond rose, exclaiming: "Oh, but this makes my knees ache!" and +went forward. Two rocks break through the snow between the summit of the +Mur and the top of the mountain; the first is called the Petits Mulets, +and the highest the Derniers Rochers. At the former of these we paused +to rest, and finished our scanty store of wine and provisions. We had +not a bit of bread nor a drop of wine left; our brandy flasks were also +nearly exhausted, and thus we had to contemplate the journey to the +summit, and the subsequent descent to the Grands Mulets, with out the +slightest prospect of physical refreshment. The almost total loss of two +nights' sleep, with two days' toil superadded, made me long for a few +minutes' doze, so I stretched myself upon a composite couch of snow and +granite, and immediately fell asleep. + +My friend, however, soon aroused me. "You quite frighten me," he said; +"I have listened for some minutes, and have not heard you breathe once." +I had, in reality, been taking deep draughts of the mountain air, but so +silently as not to be heard. + +I now filled our empty wine-bottle with snow and placed it in the +sunshine, that we might have a little water on our return. We then +rose; it was half-past two o'clock; we had been upward of twelve hours +climbing, and I calculated that, whether we reached the summit or not, +we could at all events work "toward" it for another hour. To the sense +of fatigue previously experienced, a new phenomenon was now added--the +beating of the heart. We were incessantly pulled up by this, which +sometimes became so intense as to suggest danger. I counted the number +of paces which we were able to accomplish without resting, and found +that at the end of every twenty, sometimes at the end of fifteen, we +were compelled to pause. At each pause my heart throbbed audibly, as I +leaned upon my staff, and the subsidence of this action was always +the signal for further advance. My breathing was quick, but light and +unimpeded. + +I endeavored to ascertain whether the hip-joint, on account of the +diminished atmospheric pressure, became loosened, so as to throw the +weight of the leg upon the surrounding ligaments, but could not be +certain about it. I also sought a little aid and encouragement from +philosophy, endeavoring to remember what great things had been done by +the accumulation of small quantities, and I urged upon myself that the +present was a case in point, and that the summation of distances twenty +paces each must finally place us at the top. Still the question of time +left the matter long in doubt, and until we had passed the Derniers +Rochers we worked on with the stern indifference of men who were doing +their duty, and did not look to consequences. Here, however, a gleam +of hope began to brighten our souls: the summit became visible nearer, +Simond showed more alacrity; at length success became certain, and at +half-past three P.M. my friend and I clasped hands upon the top. + +The summit of the mountain is an elongated ridge, which has been +compared to the back of an ass. It was perfectly manifest that we were +dominant over all other mountains; as far as the eye could range Mont +Blanc had no competitor. The summits which had looked down upon us in +the morning were now far beneath us. The Dome du Goute, which had held +its threatening "seracs" above us so long, was now at our feet. The +Aiguille du Midi, Mont Blanc du Tacul, and the Monts Maudits, the +Talefre, with its surrounding peaks, the Grand Jorasse, Mont Mallet, and +the Aiguille du Geant, with our own familiar glaciers, were all below +us. And as our eye ranged over the broad shoulders of the mountain, over +ice hills and valleys, plateaux and far-stretching slopes of snow, the +conception of its magnitude grew upon us, and imprest us more and more. + +The clouds were very grand--grander, indeed, than anything I had ever +before seen. Some of them seemed to hold thunder in their breasts, they +were so dense and dark; others, with their faces turned sunward, shone +with the dazzling whiteness of the mountain snow; while others again +built themselves into forms resembling gigantic elm trees, loaded with +foliage. Toward the horizon the luxury of color added itself to the +magnificent alternation of light and shade. Clear spaces of amber and +ethereal green embraced the red and purple cumuli, and seemed to form +the cradle in which they swung. Closer at hand squally mists, suddenly +engendered, were driven hither and thither by local winds; while the +clouds at a distance lay "like angels sleeping on the wing," with +scarcely visibly motion. Mingling with the clouds, and sometimes rising +above them, were the highest mountain heads, and as our eyes wandered +from peak to peak, onward to the remote horizon, space itself seemed +more vast from the manner in which the objects which it held were +distributed.... + +The day was waning, and, urged by the warnings of our ever-prudent +guide, we at length began the descent. Gravity was in our favor, but +gravity could not entirely spare our wearied limbs, and where we sank +in the snow we found our downward progress very trying. I suffered from +thirst, but after we had divided the liquefied snow at the Petits Mulets +among us we had nothing to drink. I crammed the clean snow into my +mouth, but the process of melting was slow and tantalizing to a parched +throat, while the chill was painful to the teeth. + + +THE JUNGFRAU-JOCH[58] + +BY SIR LESLIE STEPHEN + +I was once more standing upon the Wengern Alp, and gazing longingly at +the Jungfrau-Joch. Surely the Wengern Alp must be precisely the loveliest +place in this world. To hurry past it, and listen to the roar of the +avalanches, is a very unsatisfactory mode of enjoyment; it reminds one +too much of letting off crackers in a cathedral. The mountains seem to +be accomplices of the people who charge fifty centimes for an echo. But +it does one's moral nature good to linger there at sunset or in the +early morning, when tourists have ceased from traveling; and the jaded +cockney may enjoy a kind of spiritual bath in the soothing calmness of +scenery.... + +We, that is a little party of six Englishmen with six Oberland guides, +who left the inn at 3 A.M. on July 20, 1862, were not, perhaps, in a +specially poetical mood. Yet as the sun rose while we were climbing the +huge buttress of the Moench, the dullest of us--I refer, of course, +to myself--felt something of the spirit of the scenery. The day was +cloudless, and a vast inverted cone of dazzling rays suddenly struck +upward into the sky through the gap between the Moench and the Eiger, +which, as some effect of perspective shifted its apparent position, +looked like a glory streaming from the very summit of the Eiger. It was +a good omen, if not in any more remote sense, yet as promising a fine +day. After a short climb we descended upon the Gugg, glacier, most +lamentably unpoetical of names, and mounted by it to the great plateau +which lies below the cliffs immediately under the col. We reached this +at about seven, and, after a short meal, carefully examined the route +above us. Half way between us and the col lay a small and apparently +level plateau of snow. Once upon it we felt confident that we could get +to the top.... + +We plunged at once into the maze of crevasses, finding our passage much +facilitated by the previous efforts of our guides. We were constantly +walking over ground strewed with crumbling blocks of ice, the recent +fall of which was proved by their sharp white fractures, and with a +thing like an infirm toad stool twenty feet high, towering above our +heads. Once we passed under a natural arch of ice, built in evident +disregard of all principles of architectural stability. Hurrying +judiciously at such critical points, and creeping slowly round those +where the footing was difficult, we manage to thread the labyrinth +safely, whilst Rubi appeared to think it rather pleasant than otherwise +in such places to have his head fixt in a kind of pillory between two +rungs of a ladder, with twelve feet of it sticking out behind and twelve +feet before him. + +We reached the gigantic crevasse at 7.35. We passed along it to a point +where its two lips nearly joined, and the side furthest from us was +considerably higher than that upon which we stood. Fixing the foot of +the ladder upon this ledge, we swung the top over, and found that it +rested satisfactorily against the opposite bank. Almer crept up it, +and made the top firmer by driving his ax into the snow underneath the +highest step. The rest of us followed, carefully roped, and with the +caution to rest our knees on the sides of the ladder, as several of the +steps were extremely weak--a remark which was equally applicable to one, +at least, of the sides. We crept up the rickety old machine, however, +looking down between our legs into the blue depths of the crevasse, and +at 8.15 the whole party found itself satisfactorily perched on the edge +of the nearly level snow plateau, looking up at the long slopes of +broken neve that led to the col.... + +When the man behind was also engaged in hauling himself up by the rope +attached to your waist, when the two portions of the rope formed an +acute angle, when your footing was confined to the insecure grip of one +toe on a slippery bit of ice, and when a great hummock of hard serac was +pressing against the pit of your stomach and reducing you to a +position of neutral equilibrium, the result was a feeling of qualified +acquiescence in Michel or Almer's lively suggestion of "Vorwaerts! +vorwaerts!" + +Somehow or other we did ascend. The excitement made the time seem short; +and after what seemed to me to be half an hour, which was in fact nearly +two hours, we had crept, crawled, climbed and wormed our way through +various obstacles, till we found ourselves brought up by a huge +overhanging wall of blue ice. This wall was no doubt the upper side of +a crevasse, the lower part of which had been filled by snow-drift. Its +face was honeycombed by the usual hemispherical chippings, which somehow +always reminds me of the fretted walls of the Alhambra; and it was +actually hollowed out so that its upper edge overhung our heads at a +height of some twenty or thirty feet; the long fringe of icicles which +adorned it had made a slippery pathway of ice at two or three feet +distance from the foot of the wall by the freezing water which dripped +from them; and along this we crept, in hopes that none of the icicles +would come down bodily. + +The wall seemed to thin out and become much lower toward our left, and +we moved cautiously toward its lowest point. The edge upon which we +walked was itself very narrow, and ran down at a steep angle to the +top of a lower icefall which repeated the form of the upper. It almost +thinned out at the point where the upper wall was lowest. Upon this +inclined ledge, however, we fixt the foot of our ladder. The difficulty +of doing so conveniently was increased by a transverse crevasse which +here intersected the other system. The foot, however, was fixt and +rendered tolerably safe by driving in firmly several of our alpenstocks +and axes under the lowest step. Almer, then, amidst great excitement, +went forward to mount it. Should we still find an impassable system of +crevasses above us, or were we close to the top? A gentle breeze which +had been playing along the last ledge gave me hope that we were really +not far off. As Almer reached the top about twelve o'clock, a loud +yodel gave notice to all the party that our prospects were good. I soon +followed, and saw, to my great delight, a stretch of smooth, white snow, +without a single crevasse, rising in a gentle curve from our feet to the +top of the col. + +The people who had been watching us from the Wengern Alp had been +firing salutes all day, whenever the idea struck them, and whenever we +surmounted a difficulty, such as the first great crevasse. We heard the +faint sound of two or three guns as we reached the final plateau. We +should, properly speaking, have been uproariously triumphant over our +victory. To say the truth, our party of that summer was only too apt to +break out into undignified explosions of animal spirits, bordering at +times upon horseplay.... + +The top of the Jungfrau-Joch comes rather like a bathos in poetry. It +rises so gently above the steep ice wall, and it is so difficult to +determine the precise culminating point, that our enthusiasm oozed out +gradually instead of producing a sudden explosion; and that instead of +giving three cheers, singing "God Save the Queen," or observing any of +the traditional ceremonial of a simpler generation of travelers, we +calmly walked forward as tho' we had been crossing Westminster Bridge, +and on catching sight of a small patch of rocks near the foot of +the Moench, rushed precipitately down to it and partook of our third +breakfast. Which things, like most others, might easily be made into an +allegory. + +The great dramatic moments of life are very apt to fall singularly flat. +We manage to discount all their interest beforehand; and are amazed to +find that the day to which we have looked forward so long--the day, +it may be, of our marriage, or ordination, or election to be Lord +Mayor--finds us curiously unconscious of any sudden transformation and +as strongly inclined to prosaic eating and drinking as usual. At a later +period we may become conscious of its true significance, and perhaps the +satisfactory conquest of this new pass has given us more pleasure in +later years than it did at the moment. + +However that may be, we got under way again after a meal and a chat, our +friends Messrs. George and Moore descending the Aletsch glacier to the +Aeggischhorn, whose summit was already in sight, and deceptively near in +appearance. The remainder of the party soon turned off to the left, and +ascended the snow slopes to the gap between the Moench and Trugberg. As +we passed these huge masses, rising in solitary grandeur from the center +of one of the noblest snowy wastes of the Alps, Morgan reluctantly +confest for the first time that he knew nothing exactly like it in +Wales. + + + +XI + +OTHER ALPINE TOPICS + +THE GREAT ST. BERNARD HOSPICE[59] + +BY ARCHIBALD CAMPBELL KNOWLES + +The Pass of the Great St. Bernard was a well-known one long before the +hospice was built. Before the Christian era, the Romans used it as a +highway across the Alps, constantly improving the road as travel over +it increased. Many lives were lost, however, as no material safeguards +could obviate the danger from the elements, and no one will ever know +the number of souls who met their end in the blinding snows and chilling +blasts of those Alpine heights. + +To Bernard de Menthon is due the credit of the mountain hospice. He was +the originator of the idea and the founder of the institution. He has +since been canonized as a saint and he well deserved the honor, if it be +a virtue to sacrifice oneself, as we believe, and to try and save the +lives of one's fellows! It is no easy existence which St. Bernard chose +for himself and followers. The very aspect of the pass is grand but +gloomy. None of the softness of nature is seen. There is no verdure, no +beauty of coloring, nothing but bleak, bare rock, great piles of stones, +and occasional patches of fallen snow. It is thoroughly exposed, the +winds always moaning mournfully around the buildings.... + +The trip begins at Martigny. First there is a level stretch, then a +long, steady climb, after which begins the real road to the pass. The +views are very lovely, and while quite different in some ways excel +all passes except the famous Simplon. The scenery is very varied, +the mountains are far enough off to give a good perspective, and the +villages are most picturesque. The absence of snow peaks in any great +number will be felt by some, but even a lover of such soon forgets the +lack in the exceeding beauty and loveliness of the valleys. + +Toward the top of the pass there is quite a transformation. Both the +road and the scenery change, the first becoming more and more steep +and stony, the latter showing more and more of savage grandeur, as the +green, smiling valleys are no longer seen, but in their place appear +barren and rugged rocks and slopes, with the marks of the ravages +wrought by storm, landslide and avalanche. The wind has fuller play +and seems to moan in a mournful, dirge-like manner, accentuating the +characteristics of bleakness and desolation which obtain at the top of +the pass, all the more noticeable if the traveler arrives at dusk, just +as the sun has disappeared behind the mountains. + +In this dreary place stands the hospice. The present buildings are not +very old, the hospice only dating from the sixteenth century and the +church from the seventeenth century, while the other structures, which +have been built for the accommodation of strangers are comparatively +new. Twelve monks of the Augustinian Order are regularly in residence +here. They come when about twenty years of age; but so severe is the +climate, so hard the life and so stern the rule that, after a service of +about fifteen years, they generally have to seek a lower altitude, often +ruined in health, with their powers completely sapped by the rigors and +privations which they have endured. Altho the hospice and the adjoining +hostelry for the travelers are cheerless in the extreme, there is always +a warm welcome from the monks. No one, however poor, is refused bed +and board for the night, and there is no "distinction of persons." +The hospitality is extended to all, free of charge, this being the +invariable rule of the institution, but it is expected, and rightly so, +that those who can do so will deposit a liberal offering in the box +provided for the purpose. The small receipts, however, show what a great +abuse there is of this hospitality, for a large number of those who come +in the summer could well afford to give and to give largely. + +We hear much of the courage and perseverance of Hannibal and Caesar in +leading their armies over the Alps! We see pictures of Napoleon and his +soldiers as they toiled up the pass, dragging along their frozen guns, +and perhaps falling into a fatal sleep about their dying camp fires at +night! And we rightly admire such bravery, and thrill with admiration at +the tale. Yet those armies which crossed the Alps failed to equal the +heroic self-sacrifice of those soldiers of the cross, the Monks of the +Grand St. Bernard, who remain for years at their post, unknown and +unsung by the wide, wide world, simply to save and shelter the humble +travelers who come to grief in their winter journey across the pass, in +search of work. + + +AVALANCHES[60] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +Beside this dazzling, magnificent snow, covering the chain of lofty +peaks like an immaculate altar cloth, what a gloomy, dull look there +is in the snow of the plains! One might think it was made of sugar or +confectionery, that it was false like all the rest. + +To know what snow really is--to get quit of this feeling of artificial +snow that we have when we see the stunted shrubs in our Parisian gardens +wrapt, as it were, in silk paper like bits of Christmas trees--it must +be seen here in these far-off, high valleys of the Engandine, that lie +for eight months dead under their shroud of snow, and often, even in the +height of summer, have to shiver anew under some wintry flakes. + +It is here that snow is truly beautiful! It shines in the sun with a +dazzling whiteness; it sparkles with a thousand fires like diamond dust; +it shows gleams like the plumage of a white dove, and it is as firm +under the foot as a marble pavement. It is so fine-grained, so compact, +that it clings like dust to every crevice and bend, to every projecting +edge and point, and follows every outline of the mountain, the form of +which it leaves as clearly defined as if it were a covering of thin +gauze. It sports in the most charming decorations, carves alabaster +facings and cornices on the cliffs, wreathes them in delicate lace, +covers them with vast canopies of white satin spangled with stars and +fringed with silver. + +And yet this dry, hard snow is extremely susceptible to the slightest +shock, and may be set in motion by a very trifling disturbance of the +air. The flight of a bird, the cracking of a whip, the tinkling of +bells, even the conversation of persons going along sometimes suffices +to shake and loosen it from the vertical face of the cliffs to which it +is clinging; and it runs down like grains of sand, growing as it falls, +by drawing down with it other beds of snow. It is like a torrent, a +snowy waterfall, bursting out suddenly from the side of the mountain; +it rushes down with a terrible noise, swollen with the snows that it +carries down in its furious course; it breaks against the rocks, divides +and joins again like an overflowing stream, and with a wild tempest +blast resumes its desolating course, filling the echoes with the +deafening thunder of battle. + +You think for a moment that a storm has begun, but looking at the sky +you see it serenely blue, smiling, cloudless. The rush becomes more and +more violent; it comes nearer, the ground trembles, the trees bend and +break with a sharp crack; enormous stones and blocks of ice are carried +away like gravel; and the mighty avalanche, with a crash like a train +running off the rails over a precipice, drops to the foot of the +mountain, destroying, crushing down everything before it, and covering +the ground with a bed of snow from thirty to fifty feet deep. + +When a stream of water wears a passage for itself under this compact +mass, it is sometimes hollowed out into an arched way, and the snow +becomes so solid that carriages and horses can go through without +danger, even in the middle of summer. But often the water does not find +a course by which to flow away; and then, when the snow begins to melt, +the water seeps into the fissures, loosens the mass that chokes up the +valley, and carries it down, rending its banks as it goes, carrying away +bridges, mills, and trees, and overthrowing houses. The avalanche has +become an inundation. + +The mountaineers make a distinction between summer and winter +avalanches. The former are solid avalanches, formed of old snow that +has almost acquired the consistency of ice. The warm breath of spring +softens it, loosens it from the rocks on which it hangs, and it slides +down into the valleys. These are called "melting avalanches." They +regularly follow certain tracks, and these are embanked, like the course +of a river, with wood or bundles of branches. It is in order to protect +the alpine roads from these avalanches that those long open galleries +have been built on the face of the precipice. + +The most dreaded and most terrible avalanches, those of dry, powdery +snow, occur only in winter, when sudden squalls and hurricanes of +snow throw the whole atmosphere into chaos. They come down in sudden +whirlwinds, with the violence of a waterspout, and in a few minutes +whole villages are buried.... + +Here, in the Grisons, the whole village of Selva was buried under an +avalanche. Nothing remained visible but the top of the church steeple, +looking like a pole planted in the snow. Baron Munchausen might have +tied his horse there without inventing any lie about it. The Val +Verzasca was covered for several months by an avalanche of nearly 1,000 +feet in length and 50 in depth. All communication through the valley +was stopt; it was impossible to organize help; and the alarm-bell was +incessantly sounding over the immense white desolation like a knell for +the dead. + +In the narrow defile in which we now are, there are many remains of +avalanches that neither the water of the torrent nor the heat of the sun +has had power to melt. The bed of the river is strewn with displaced and +broken rocks, and great stones bound together by the snow as if with +cement; the surges dash against these rocky obstacles, foaming angrily, +with the blind fury of a wild beast. And the moan of the powerless water +flows on into the depth of the valley, and is lost far off in a hollow +murmur. + + +HUNTING THE CHAMOIS[61] + +BY VICTOR TISSOT + +Schmidt swept with his cap the snow which covered the stones on which +we were to seat ourselves for breakfast, then unpacked the provisions; +slices of veal and ham, hard-boiled eggs, wine of the Valtelline. His +knapsack, covered with a napkin, served for our table. While we sat, we +devoured the landscape, the twelve glaciers spreading around us their +carpet of swansdown and ermine, sinking into crevasses of a magical +transparency, and raising their blocks, shaped into needles, or into +Gothic steeples with pierced arches. The architecture of the glacier is +marvelous. Its decorations are the decorations of fairyland. Quite near +us marks of animals in the snow attracted our attention. Schmidt said to +us: + +"Chamois have been here this morning; the traces are quite fresh. They +must have seen us and made off; the chamois are as distrustful, you see, +as the marmots, and as wary. At this season they keep on the glaciers by +preference. They live on so little! A few herbs, a few mosses, such as +grow on isolated rocks like this. I assure you it is very amusing to see +a herd of twenty or thirty chamois cross at a headlong pace a vast field +of snow, or glacier, where they bound over the crevasses in play. + +"One would say they were reindeers in a Lapland scene. It is only at +night that they come down into the valleys. In the moonlight they come +out of the moraines, and go to pasture on the grassy slopes or in the +forest adjoining the glaciers. During the day they go up again into the +snow, for which they have an extraordinary love, and in which they skip +and play, amusing themselves like a band of scholars in play hours. +They tease one another, butt with their horns in fun, run off, +return, pretend new attacks and new flights with charming agility and +frolicsomeness. + +"While the young ones give themselves up to their sports, an old female, +posted as sentinel at some yards distance, watches the valley and scents +the air. At the slightest indication of danger, she utters a sharp cry; +the games cease instantly, and the whole anxious troop assembles round +the guardian, then the whole herd sets off at a gallop and disappears in +the twinkling of an eye.... + +"Hunting on the neves and the glaciers is very dangerous. When the snow +is fresh it is with difficulty one can advance. The hunters use wooden +snowshoes, like those of the Esquimaux. + +"One of my comrades, in hunting on the Roseg, disappeared in the bottom +of a crevasse. It was over thirty feet deep. Imagine two perfectly +smooth sides; two walls of crystal. To reascend was impossible. It was +certain death, either from cold or hunger; for it was known that when he +went chamois-hunting he was often absent for several days. He could not +therefore count on help being sent; he must resign himself to death. + +"One thing, however, astonished him; it was to find so little water in +the bottom of the crevasse. Could there be then an opening at the bottom +of the funnel into which he had fallen? He stooped, examined this grave +in which he had been buried alive, discovered that the heat of the sun +had caused the base of the glacier to melt. A canal drainage had been +formed. Laying himself flat, he slid into this dark passage, and after +a thousand efforts he arrived at the end of the glacier in the moraine, +safe and sound." + +We had finished breakfast. We wanted something warm, a little coffee. +Schmidt set up our spirit-lamp behind two great stones that protected it +from the wind. And while we waited for the water to boil, he related to +us the story of Colani, the legendary hunter of the upper Engandine. + +"Colani, in forty years, killed two thousand seven hundred chamois. This +strange man had carved out for himself a little kingdom in the mountain. +He claimed to reign there alone, to be absolute master. When a stranger +penetrated into his residence, within the domain of 'his reserved +hunting-ground,' as he called the regions of the Bernina, he treated him +as a poacher, and chased him with a gun.... + +"Colani was feared and dreaded as a diabolical and supernatural +being; and indeed he took no pains to undeceive the public, for the +superstitious terrors inspired by his person served to keep away all the +chamois-hunters from his chamois, which he cared for and managed as a +great lord cares for the deer in his forests. Round the little house +which he had built for himself on the Col de Bernina, and where he +passed the summer and autumn, two hundred chamois, almost tame, might be +seen wandering about and browsing. Every year he killed about fifty old +males." + + +THE CELEBRITIES OF GENEVA[62] + +BY FRANCIS H. GRIBBLE + +It has been remarked as curious that the Age of Revolution at Geneva +was also the Golden Age--if not of Genevan literature, which has never +really had any Golden Age, at least of Genevan science, which was of +world-wide renown. + +The period is one in which notable names meet us at every turn. There +were exiled Genevans, like de Lolme, holding their own in foreign +political and intellectual circles; there were emigrant Genevan pastors +holding aloft the lamps of culture and piety in many cities of England, +France, Russia, Germany, and Denmark; there were Genevans, like Francois +Lefort, holding the highest offices in the service of foreign rulers; +and there were numbers of Genevans at Geneva of whom the cultivated +grand tourist wrote in the tone of a disciple writing of his master. One +can not glance at the history of the period without lighting upon names +of note in almost all departments of endeavor. The period is that of +de Saussure, Bourrit, the de Lucs, the two Hubers, great authorities +respectively on bees and birds; Le Sage, who was one of Gibbon's rivals +for the heart of Mademoiselle Suzanne Curchod; Senebier, the librarian +who wrote the first literary history of Geneva; St. Ours and Arlaud, +the painters; Charles Bonnet, the entomologist; Berenger and Picot, +the historians; Tronchin, the physician; Trembley and Jallabert, the +mathematicians; Dentan, minister and Alpine explorer; Pictet, the editor +of the "Bibliotheque Universelle," still the leading Swiss literary +review; and Odier, who taught Geneva the virtue of vaccination. + +It is obviously impossible to dwell at length upon the careers of all +these eminent men. As well might one attempt, in a survey on the same +scale of English literature, to discuss in detail the careers of all the +celebrities of the age of Anne. One can do little more than remark that +the list is marvelously strong for a town of some 30,000 inhabitants, +and that many of the names included in it are not only eminent, but +interesting. Jean Andre de Luc, for example, has a double claim upon our +attention as the inventor of the hygrometer and as the pioneer of the +snow-peaks. He climbed the Buet as early as 1770, and wrote an account +of his adventures on its summit and its slopes which has the true charm +of Arcadian simplicity. He came to England, was appointed reader to +Queen Charlotte, and lived in the enjoyment of that office, and in the +gratifying knowledge that Her Majesty kept his presentation hygrometer +in her private apartments, to the venerable age of ninety. + +Bourrit is another interesting character--being, in fact, the spiritual +ancestor of the modern Alpine Clubman. By profession he was Precentor +of the Cathedral; but his heart was in the mountains. In the summer he +climbed them, and in the winter he wrote books about them. One of +his books was translated into English; and the list of subscribers, +published with the translation, shows that the public which Bourrit +addrest included Edmund Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, Bartolozzi, Fanny +Burney, Angelica Kauffman, David Garrick, Sir Joshua Reynolds, George +Augustus Selwyn, Jonas Hanway and Dr. Johnson. His writings earned him +the honorable title of Historian (or Historiographer) of the Alps. Men +of science wrote him letters; princes engaged upon the grand tour called +to see him; princesses sent him presents as tokens of their admiration +and regard for the man who had taught them how the contemplation of +mountain scenery might exalt the sentiments of the human mind. + +Tronchin, too, is interesting; he was the first physician who recognized +the therapeutic use of fresh air and exercise, hygienic boots, and +open windows. So is Charle Bonnet, who was not afraid to stand up +for orthodoxy against Voltaire; so is Mallet, who traveled as far as +Lapland; and so is that man of whom his contemporaries always spoke, +with the reverence of hero-worshipers, as "the illustrious de +Saussure."... + +The name of which the Genevans are proudest is probably that of +Rousseau, who has sometimes been spoken of as "the austere citizen of +Geneva." But "austere" is a strange epithet to apply to the philosopher +who endowed the Foundling Hospital with five illegitimate children; and +Geneva can not claim a great share in a citizen who ran away from the +town of his boyhood to avoid being thrashed for stealing apples. It +was, indeed, at Geneva that Jean Jacques received from his aunt the +disciplinary chastisement of which he gives such an exciting account in +his "Confessions"; and he once returned to the city and received the +Holy Communion there in later life. But that is all. Jean Jacques was +not educated at Geneva, but in Savoy--at Annecy, at Turin, and at +Chambery; his books were not printed at Geneva, tho' one of them was +publicly burned there, but in Paris and Amsterdam; it is not to Genevan +but to French literature that he belongs. + +We must visit Voltaire at Ferney, and Madame de Stael at Coppet. Let the +patriarch come first. Voltaire was sixty years of age when he settled +on the shores of the lake, where he was to remain for another +four-and-twenty years; and he did not go there for his pleasure. He +would have preferred to live in Paris, but was afraid of being locked +up in the Bastille. As the great majority of the men of letters of +the reign of Louis XV. were, at one time or another, locked up in the +Bastille, his fears were probably well founded. + +Moreover, notes of warning had reached his ears. "I dare not ask you to +dine," a relative said to him, "because you are in bad odor at Court." +So he betook himself to Geneva, as so many Frenchmen, illustrious +and otherwise, had done before, and acquired various properties--at +Prangins, at Lausanne, at Saint-Jean (near Geneva), at Ferney, at +Tournay, and elsewhere. + +He was welcomed cordially. Dr. Tronchin, the eminent physician, +cooperated in the legal fictions necessary to enable him to become a +landowner in the republic. Cramer, the publisher, made a proposal for +the issue of a complete and authorized edition of his works. All the +best people called. "It is very pleasant," he was able to write, "to +live in a country where rulers borrow your carriage to come to dinner +with you." + +Voltaire corresponded regularly with at least four reigning sovereigns, +to say nothing of men of letters, Cardinals, and Marshals of France; +and he kept open house for travelers of mark from every country in the +world. Those of the travelers who wrote books never failed to devote a +chapter to an account of a visit to Ferney; and from the mass of such +descriptions we may select for quotation that written, in the stately +style of the period, by Dr. John Moore, author of "Zeluco," then making +the grand tour as tutor to the Duke of Hamilton. + +"The most piercing eyes I ever beheld," the doctor writes, "are those of +Voltaire, now in his eightieth year. His whole countenance is expressive +of genius, observation, and extreme sensibility. In the morning he has a +look of anxiety and discontent; but this gradually wears off, and after +dinner he seems cheerful; yet an air of irony never entirely forsakes +his face, but may always be observed lurking in his features whether he +frowns or smiles. Composition is his principal amusement. No author who +writes for daily bread, no young poet ardent for distinction, is more +assiduous with his pen, or more anxious for fresh fame, than the wealthy +and applauded Seigneur of Ferney. He lives in a very hospitable manner, +and takes care always to have a good cook. He generally has two or three +visitors from Paris, who stay with him a month or six weeks at a time. +When they go, their places are soon supplied, so that there is a +constant rotation of society at Ferney. These, with Voltaire's own +family and his visitors from Geneva, compose a company of twelve or +fourteen people, who dine daily at his table, whether he appears or not. +All who bring recommendations from his friends may depend upon being +received, if he be not really indisposed. He often presents himself to +the strangers who assemble every afternoon in his ante-chamber, altho +they bring no particular recommendation." + +It might have been added that when an interesting stranger who carried +no introduction was passing through the town, Voltaire sometimes sent +for him; but this experiment was not always a success, and failed most +ludicrously in the case of Claude Gay, the Philadelphian Quaker, author +of some theological works now forgotten, but then of note. The meeting +was only arranged with difficulty on the philosopher's undertaking to +put a bridle on his tongue, and say nothing flippant about holy things. +He tried to keep his promise, but the temptation was too strong for him. +After a while he entangled his guest in a controversy concerning the +proceedings of the patriarchs and the evidences of Christianity, and +lost his temper on finding that his sarcasms failed to make their usual +impression. The member of the Society of Friends, however, was not +disconcerted. He rose from his place at the dinner-table, and replied: +"Friend Voltaire! perhaps thou mayst come to understand these matters +rightly; in the meantime, finding I can do thee no good, I leave thee, +and so fare thee well." + +And so saying, he walked out and walked back to Geneva, while Voltaire +retired in dudgeon to his room, and the company sat expecting something +terrible to happen. + +A word, in conclusion, about Coppet! + +Necker[63] bought the property from his old banking partner, Thelusson, +for 500,000 livres in French money, and retired to live there when the +French Revolution drove him out of politics. His daughter, Madame de +Stael, inherited it from him, and made it famous. + +Not that she loved Switzerland; it would be more true to say that she +detested Switzerland. Swiss scenery meant nothing to her. When she was +taken for an excursion to the glaciers, she asked what the crime was +that she had to expiate by such a punishment; and she could look out on +the blue waters of Lake Leman, and sigh for "the gutter of the Rue du +Bac." Even to this day, the Swiss have hardly forgiven her for that, or +for speaking of the Canton of Vaud as the country in which she had been +"so intensely bored for such a number of years." + +What she wanted was to live in Paris, to be a leader--or, rather, to be +"the" leader--of Parisian society, to sit in a salon, the admired of +all admirers, and to pull the wires of politics to the advantage of +her friends. For a while she succeeded in doing this. It was she who +persuaded Barras to give Talleyrand his political start in life. But +whereas Barras was willing to act on her advice, Napoleon was by no +means equally amenable to her influence. Almost from the first he +regarded her as a mischief-maker; and when a spy brought him an +intercepted letter in which Madame de Stael exprest her hope that none +of the old aristocracy of France would condescend to accept appointments +in the household of "the bourgeois of Corsica," he became her personal +enemy, and, refusing her permission to live either in the capital or +near it, practically compelled her to take refuge in her country seat. +Her pleasance in that way became her gilded cage. + +Perhaps she was not quite so unhappy there as she sometimes represented. +If she could not go to Paris, many distinguished and brilliant Parisians +came to Coppet, and met there many brilliant and distinguished Germans, +Genevans, Italians, and Danes. The Parisian salon, reconstituted, +flourished on Swiss soil. There visited there, at one time or another, +Madame Recamier and Madame Kruedner; Benjamin Constant, who was so +long Madame de Stael's lover; Bonstetten, the Voltairean philosopher; +Frederika Brun, the Danish artist; Sismondi, the historian; Werner, the +German poet; Karl Ritter, the German geographer; Baron de Voght; Monti, +the Italian poet: Madame Vigee Le Brun; Cuvier; and Oelenschlaeger. From +almost every one of them we have some pen-and-ink sketch of the life +there. This, for instance, is the scene as it appeared to Madame Le +Brun, who came to paint the hostess's portrait: + +"I paint her in antique costume. She is not beautiful, but the animation +of her visage takes the place of beauty. To aid the expression I wished +to give her, I entreated her to recite tragic verses while I painted. +She declaimed passages from Corneille and Racine. I find many persons +established at Coppet: the beautiful Madame Recamier, the Comte de +Sabran, a young English woman, Benjamin Constant, etc. Its society is +continually renewed. They come to visit the illustrious exile who is +pursued by the rancor of the Emperor. Her two sons are now with her, +under the instruction of the German scholar Schlegel; her daughter is +very beautiful, and has a passionate love of study; she leaves her +company free all the morning, but they unite in the evening. It is only +after dinner that they can converse with her. She then walks in her +salon, holding in her hand a little green branch; and her words have an +ardor quite peculiar to her; it is impossible to interrupt her. At these +times she produces on one the effect of an improvisation." + +And here is a still more graphic description, taken from a letter +written to Madame Recamier by Baron de Voght: + +"It is to you that I owe my most amiable reception at Coppet. It is no +doubt to the favorable expectations aroused by your friendship that I +owe my intimate acquaintance with this remarkable woman. I might have +met her without your assistance--some casual acquaintance would no doubt +have introduced me--but I should never have penetrated to the intimacy +of this sublime and beautiful soul, and should never have known how much +better she is than her reputation. She is an angel sent from heaven to +reveal the divine goodness upon earth. To make her irresistible, a pure +ray of celestial light embellishes her spirit and makes her amiable from +every point of view. + +"At once profound and light, whether she is discovering a mysterious +secret of the soul or grasping the lightest shadow of a sentiment, +her genius shines without dazzling, and when the orb of light has +disappeared, it leaves a pleasant twilight to follow it.... No doubt +a few faults, a few weaknesses, occasionally veil this celestial +apparition; even the initiated must sometimes be troubled by these +eclipses, which the Genevan astronomers in vain endeavor to predict. + +"My travels so far have been limited to journeys to Lausanne and +Coppet, where I often stay three or four days. The life there suits me +perfectly; the company is even more to my taste. I like Constant's +wit, Schlegel's learning, Sabran's amiability, Sismondi's talent and +character, the simple truthful disposition and just intellectual +perceptions of Auguste,[64] the wit and sweetness of Albertine[65]--I +was forgetting Bonstetten, an excellent fellow, full of knowledge of +all sorts, ready in wit, adaptable in character--in every way inspiring +one's respect and confidence. + +"Your sublime friend looks and gives life to everything. She imparts +intelligence to those around her. In every corner of the house some +one is engaged in composing a great work.... Corinne is writing her +delightful letters about Germany, which will, no doubt, prove to be the +best thing she has ever done. + +"The 'Shunamitish Widow,' an Oriental melodrama which she has just +finished, will be played in October; it is charming. Coppet will be +flooded with tears. Constant and Auguste are both composing tragedies; +Sabran is writing a comic opera, and Sismondi a history; Schlegel is +translating something; Bonstetten is busy with philosophy, and I am busy +with my letter to Juliette." + +Then, a month later: + +"Since my last letter, Madame de Stael has read us several chapters of +her work. Everywhere it bears the marks of her talent. I wish I could +persuade her to cut out everything in it connected with politics, and +all the metaphors which interfere with its clarity, simplicity, and +accuracy. What she needs to demonstrate is not her republicanism, but +her wisdom. Mlle. Jenner played in one of Werner's tragedies which was +given, last Friday, before an audience of twenty. She, Werner, and +Schlegel played perfectly.... + +"The arrival in Switzerland of M. Cuvier has been a happy distraction +for Madame de Stael; they spent two days together at Geneva, and +were well pleased with each other. On her return to Coppet she found +Middleton there, and in receiving his confidences forgot her troubles. +Yesterday she resumed her work. + +"The poet whose mystical and somber genius has caused us such profound +emotions starts, in a few days' time, for Italy. + +"I accompanied Corinne to Massot's. To alleviate the tedium of the +sitting, a Mlle. Romilly played pleasantly on the harp, and the studio +was a veritable temple of the Muses.... + +"Bonstetten gave us two readings of a Memoir on the Northern Alps. It +began very well, but afterward it bored us. Madame de Stael resumed her +reading, and there was no longer any question of being bored. It is +marvelous how much she must have read and thought over to be able to +find the opportunity of saying so many good things. One may differ from +her, but one can not help delighting in her talent.... + +"And now here we are at Geneva, trying to reproduce Coppet at the Hotel +des Balances. I am delightfully situated with a wide view over the +Valley of Savoy, between the Alps and the Jura. + +"Yesterday evening the illusion of Coppet was complete. I had been with +Madame de Stael to call on Madame Rilliet, who is so charming at her own +fireside. On my return I played chess with Sismondi. Madame de Stael, +Mlle. Randall, and Mlle. Jenner sat on the sofa chatting with Bonstetten +and young Barante. We were as we had always been--as we were in the days +that I shall never cease regretting." + +Other descriptions exist in great abundance, but these suffice to +serve our purpose. They show us the Coppet salon as it was pleasant, +brilliant, unconventional; something like Holland House, but more +Bohemian; something like Harley Street, but more select; something like +Gad's Hill--which it resembled in the fact that the members of the +house-parties were expected to spend their mornings at their desks--but +on a higher social plane; a center at once of high thinking and +frivolous behavior; of hard work and desperate love-making, which +sometimes paved the way to trouble. + + +Footnotes: + +[Footnote 1: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 2: From "Hungary." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 3: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 4: The modern Marseilles.] + +[Footnote 5: An ancient Italian town on the Adriatic, founded by +Syracusans about 300 B.C. and still an important seaport.] + +[Footnote 6: The city in Provence where have survived a beautiful Roman +arch and a stupendous Roman theater in which classical plays are still +given each year by actors from the Theatre Francais.] + +[Footnote 7: Diocletian.] + +[Footnote 8: A reference to the exquisite Maison Carree of Nimes.] + +[Footnote 9: That is, of Venice.] + +[Footnote 10: The famous general of the Emperor Justinian, reputed to +have become blind and been neglected in his old age.] + +[Footnote 11: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 12: From "Through Savage Europe." Published by J.B. Lippincott +Co.] + +[Footnote 13: From "Sketches from the Subject and Neighbour Lands of +Venice." Published by the Macmillan Co.] + +[Footnote 14: That is, lands where the Greek Church prevails.] + +[Footnote 15: John Mason Neale, author of "An Introduction to the +History of the Holy Eastern Church."] + +[Footnote 16: Montenegro.] + +[Footnote 17: From "A Girl in the Karpathians." After publishing this +book. Miss Dowie became the wife of Henry Norman, the author and +traveler.] + +[Footnote 18: One of Poland's greatest poets.] + +[Footnote 19: From "Views Afoot." Published by G.P. Putnam's Sons.] + +[Footnote 20: The population now (1914) is 24,000.] + +[Footnote 21: From "Six Months in Italy." Published by Houghton, Mifflin +Co.] + +[Footnote 22: From "A Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque +Tour," published in 1821.] + +[Footnote 23: From "Letters of a Traveller." The Tyrol and the Dolomites +being mainly Austrian territory, are here included under "Other Austrian +Scenes." Resorts in the Swiss Alps, including Chamouni (which, however, +is in France), will be found further on in this volume.] + +[Footnote 24: An Italian poet (1749-1838), who, banished from Venice, +settled in New York and became Professor of Italian at Columbia +College.] + +[Footnote 25: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 26: In the village of Cadore--hence the name, Titian da +Cadore.] + +[Footnote 27: From "Untrodden Peaks and Unfrequented Valleys: A +Midsummer Ramble in the Dolomites." Published by E.P. Dutton & Co.] + +[Footnote 28: Reaumur.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 29: From "My Alpine Jubilee." Published In 1908.] + +[Footnote 30: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs Company, Philadelphia.] + +[Footnote 31: Since the above was written, the railway has been extended +up the Jungfrau itself.] + +[Footnote 32: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 33: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 34: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 35: The population in 1902 had risen to 152,000.] + +[Footnote 36: From "Teutonic Switzerland." By special arrangement with, +and by permission of, the publishers, L.C. Page & Co. Copyright, 1894.] + +[Footnote 37: From "The Letters of Percy Bysshe Shelley." Politically, +Chamouni is in France, but the aim here has been to bring into one +volume all the more popular Alpine resorts. Articles on the Tyrol and +the Dolomites will also be found in this volume--under "Other Austrian +Scenes."] + +[Footnote 38: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 39: For Mr. Whymper's own account of this famous ascent, see +page 127 of this volume.] + +[Footnote 40: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 41: From "Geneva."] + +[Footnote 42: From "Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands."] + +[Footnote 43: Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" had been published about +a year when this remark was made to her.] + + +[Footnote 44: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by George W. +Jacobs & Co.] + +[Footnote 45: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 46: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's later +achievements in the Alps are now integral parts of the written history +of notable mountain climbing feats the world over.] + +[Footnote 47: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." Mr. Whymper's ascent +of the Matterhorn was made in 1865. It was the first ascent ever made so +far as known. Whymper died at Chamouni in 1911.] + +[Footnote 48: From "Scrambles Amongst the Alps." The loss of Douglas and +three other men, as here described, occurred during the descent of +the Matterhorn following the ascent described by Mr. Whymper in the +preceding article.] + +[Footnote 49: That is, down in the village of Zermatt. Seiler was a +well-known innkeeper of that time. Other Seilers still keep inns at +Zermatt.] + +[Footnote 50: The body of Douglas has never been recovered. It is +believed to lie buried deep in some crevasse in one of the great +glaciers that emerge from the base of the Matterhorn.] + +[Footnote 51: From "The Glaciers of the Alps." Prof. Tyndall made this +ascent in 1858. Monte Rosa stands quite near the Matterhorn. Each is +reached from Zermatt by the Gorner-Grat.] + +[Footnote 52: Another name for the Matterhorn.] + +[Footnote 53: My staff was always the handle of an ax an inch or two +longer than an ordinary walking-stick.--Author's note.] + + +[Footnote 54: From "The Glaciers of the Alps."] + +[Footnote 55: That is, after having ascended the mountain to a point +some distance beyond the Mer de Glace, to which the party had ascended +from Chamouni, Huxley and Tyndall were both engaged in a study of the +causes of the movement of glaciers, but Tyndall gave it most attention. +One of Tyndall's feats in the Alps was to make the first recorded ascent +of the Weisshorn. It is said that "traces of his influence remain in +Switzerland to this day."] + +[Footnote 56: A hotel overlooking the Mer de Glace and a headquarters +for mountaineers now as then.] + +[Footnote 57: Those acquainted with the mountain will at once recognize +the grave error here committed. In fact, on starting from the Grands +Mulets we had crossed the glacier too far, and throughout were much too +close to the Dome du Goute.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 58: From "The Playground of Europe." Published by Longmans, +Green & Co.] + +[Footnote 59: From "Adventures in the Alps." Published by the George W. +Jacob Co.] + +[Footnote 60: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 61: From "Unknown Switzerland." Published by James Pott & Co.] + +[Footnote 62: From "Geneva."] + +[Footnote 63: The French financier and minister of Louis XVI., father of +Madame de Stael.] + +[Footnote 64: Madame de Stael's son, who afterward edited the works of +Madame de Stael and Madame Necker.--Author's note.] + +[Footnote 65: Madame de Stael's daughter, afterward Duchesse de +Broglie.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Seeing Europe with Famous Authors, +Volume VI, by Various + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEEING EUROPE *** + +***** This file should be named 11179.txt or 11179.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/1/1/7/11179/ + +Produced by Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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